Lies
by JYu.Lee
Summary: Cal gets a note and everything goes downhill from there. What would he do in order to save Gillian's life? Would he sacrifice his own? And what if he has a seceret that only Gillian and he knows about? COMPLETE
1. Chapter 1

**Hey Guys! This is my first fanfic and I hope I do a great job. Enjoii! **

He walked into his office door, only to be welcomed by the silence of it. Sighing, he slumped down on his chair and picked up a note. So working at the Pentagon wasn't the best thing on earth he had done but this threat wasn't a joke either. One of the bosses he'd worked for had placed it neatly on his desk and walked out. He had got it yestarday morning and wasn't planning on telling anyone about it. Especially not Gillian. He tried to get it off his mind and placed it on some papers nearby.

'Gillian would probably at home still…I mean its only 6 in the morning' He thought. Then added, 'with that damned Alec.' He wanted so much to be her knight in shining armor and save her from all the troubles and lend her a shoulder to cry on. But that wasn't gunna happen. He knew they were just partners and thought about that bloody line they drew.

He was working, or trying work, when suddenly his room burst with like and he shut he eyes at the sudden blindness.

"Bloody hell…" He trailer off, seeing Gillian standing there, her arms folded. She looked beautiful with her grey dress on. He quickly shook that out of his mind.

"You know, most people turn on the lights before they start working." She said in her Foster like tone. She walked by and sat in the chair opposite of his desk and stared at him.

Still squinting, Cal replied. "I didn't think of that." He smiled. "What are you doing here this early, luv?"

She shrugged and leaned forward a bit. "I couldn't sleep so I just decided to get some paperwork done." She smiled and picked up some papers from Cal's desk and started to look through them.

He knew it was a lie. She hadn't come here for paperwork. But instead of asking her what the truth was, he just ignored it, thinking it was none of his business "Alright then." He handed her a handful of papers near his desk. "Have fun. And call if you need anything Foster." He gave her one last smile before her disappeared from his office.

Gillian frowned while going through the papers. She'd been doing this for about an hour now. Cal said he'd stepped out to get to a meeting. She sighed and moved some of the papers but she stopped when she saw a post it note stuck on the papers.

_'Remember what I said Lightman. If you don't come then we'll just have to get to Gillian. And you wouldn't want to have that would you? Be at the park near Kenny's at 12 P.M. sharp.'_

Gillian put down the note with surprise and shock written all over her face. Along with the immense fear for Cal. 'He is not going there.' She thought. 'and certainly not at night.' She got up and almost ran to Cal's office. Then remembered he went to a meeting. She tried calling, but saw his phone buzzing on his desk. Sighing she went over and picked it up. On the screen it flashed 'Germone Johnson.'

"I know that name from somewhere." She thought aloud. Then it hit her. Geromone Johnson, age 43, director of a field back at the Pentagon. She recorded in her memory. Was he the one who sent Cal the letter? She answered the text.

'_Just a reminder to come at 12. Her life depends on this Lighman.'_

It was him. She gasped. What was Cal doing with that man again? She set the phone back on the desk and decided to confront Cal later.


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey guys I'm back with chapta 2! Hope you enjoiiii! :))**

It was almost 5 when Cal walked back into the office. That meeting was the worst one he had ever been to. A total waste of time. He booted up his computer and stretched like a cat, trying to wake up. He thought about the last couple of days as he sat down on his chair. Day 1, he had gotten a call from Germone. Day 2, … the guy called again. Day 3, he had gotten the note. And this was day 4, the day they were supposed to meet…or Gillian was gunna get hurt. He thought it over in his head. If he went…It'll solve the problem but he doesn't really know what the guy wanted. If he didn't…They'll get Gillian one way or the other. He didn't think twice before he decided he was going.

Gillian walked around the corner to Cal's office with a orange slushy in her hand. She peaked through the open door to find Cal leaning back on his chair with his feet propped up on his desk. She knocked.

"Hey Cal." She stepped in and shut the door behind her.

He opened his eyes and put his foot back on the floor. "Ay Luv. How was the paperwork?" he said, chuckling.

Gillian smiled and sat down. But the smile didn't reach her eyes and he saw. "What's wrong Foster?"

She debated in her head whether or not to ask him about the note…and decided not to. He seemed so…calm and happy right now. The note could have been fake. But then again, the text said otherwise. "Nothing. Just home stuff."

He nodded then pointed at the slushy. "Were you out while I was gone Luv?" he asked her.

It took a while for her to realize was he was talking about. "Yea. It's good you should try it sometimes." She lifted up the bottle and smiled. He smiled back. The she thought that if they had dinner together, then he wouldn't go to the park. She could take care of herself. And if Cal got into the mess with the Pentagon again, it would be hard to convince him to stop. "Hey Cal. Alec and I were going to dinner tonight and we were wondering if you wanted to come."

He looked up kind of shocked. "_We _or _I_, Luv?"

"Well mostly I." She looked down.

Cal studies her for a moment and sighed inwardly. 'Maybe she knows. Nah. Probably just feels sorry for me again.' "Listen Luv. You and Alec don't get out much. I don't want to be in the way."

"But-" Gillian started. But Cal cut in.

"-Seriously Foster. And I gotta go somewhere today. It's kind of important."

She knew he would say something like that. She looked at him and knew he wouldn't change his mind. Sighing, she standed up. "Well if you need anything, I'll be in my office." She turned to leave when Cal called out to her.

"Is that why you came here?" She looked at him with confusion in her eyes. "Did you come in here to ask me to dinner with you and Alec?" he asked with a hint jealousy in his voice.

She opened her mouth to speak but was interrupted by Torres walking in. "Hey theres...is everything ok?" she looked from Cal to Gillian.

"Yeah." It was Cal who answered. "What is it?"

"Well," she started, looking at Gillian and talking to Cal, "there's this guy from the FBI. He says he's got to talk to you."

"Tell him I'll be right over." he replied. Torres nodded and with another look to both of them, she left to the FBI agent.

They looked at eachother again. "Well?"

"Look Cal I just wanted to see if you wanted to come. You seemed...distracted." She tried to read him, but that wasn't gunna happen.

He continues to stare at her. "I should be asking you that Foster." Foster. She hated it when he called her Foster. On or off work.

Instead of telling him something again, she shook her head and walked out.

It was almost 12 and there was nobody at the park. The lamps by the path were dim and the air seemed colder then usual. There were no cars parked or even passing by. One deserted park, one heart deserted man, walking around the park completely clueless. about what was going to happen. Cal walked around the path with his hands in his pockets and his head low. Where the hell are they? 'I'm not gunna be walking around here all night!' he thought angrily. He kicked a rock and it hit a pole. 'Are they even gunna come?' He sat down on a nearby bench. His phone rang. It felt like an earthquake in his pocket. Who would call him at 12? He picked it up anyways.

"Lightman." He barked.

"Cal?"

His eyes went wide. "Foster? Are you ok? is there anything wrong?" He was so focused on her, he didn't see the shadows from the corner.

"Cal look. Can you come by to my place? Like right away?" Her voice sounded so concerned, it hurt him.

Had the Germone got to her? They promised not to! He suddenly felt angry. "Fos-Gillian. Where are you right now? Are you home? Are you ok? Is Alec with you?" If Alec was with her, at least she'll be ok for a while. That bloke wouldn't be so heartless and to let his own wife get hurt.

For a moment there was silent. "I'm fine and yes I'm home Cal. Could you just please come?"

He didn't even spot the lie. Without thinking he replied. "Yea hold on Luv. I'll be right ov-"

"Cal Lightman." A voice said.

Cal turned around and came face to face with none other than Germone Johnson. He looked the same as when they'd last seen each other, except he aged a bit. Germone stepped foward and nodded at the phone.

"Talking to someone this late Lightman? I suggest you hang up right now." he said while taking another step foward.

Lightman hung up long before he suggested that. He just hoped Gillian didn't hear Germone's voice. Cal looked behind Germone to see one other person. Sean Allsop. The guy who used to be his partner whenever they worked with terroists. Vance used to be the person he could all ways trust back then, along with Gillian and Zoe. But he was more like a second brother to Cal. And now the man was here, besides Germone...the worst and smartest boss he had every worked for in his life. Cal read his face and saw disgust, anger, and a hint of fear. Sean was staring intently at the floor between his feet. His body language was tense all over. Germone spotted Cal looking over at his 'protege' and smiled.

"Ah. I see it's been a while since you two have seen eachother." He clapsed his hands together. "Well then. Shouldn't you be poliet and shake eachother's hands or something? After all Sean is my new Protoge."

Cal looked up, shocked. He glared at Sean but the guy didn't lift his head.

Germone smiled, an evil looking smile, at Cal. He knew they were close friends. "Oh. Where's Dr. Foster?" He prentended to look around. "She's ok I hope."

Cal threw daggers at the man. Did Gillian call because Germone went to her house? He took two steps foward and pointed a finger at him. "If you hurt her. If you even touch a single hair on her head. I'll personally hunt you down and bloody kill you." he seethed through his teeth with every english accent like bullets.

Germone didn't seem to care about the threat. Instead he smiled and said, "Don't worry. If you do anything irrational, I'll _have_ to kill Gillian." He ignored Cal's glares and turned to Sean who hadn't looked up from his previous visit to the center of his brain. "Sean go get the paper from the van."

The younger man nodded and left without a word. Cal looked after him and almost felt sorry for the guy getting treated like a dog. But Germone snapped him out of his memory.

"Lightman let's get down to buisness. I'm not here to joke around."

Cal looked at Germone again with his hands now in his pockets. "Alright. What do you want." It was more of a statement. Not a question.

The boss seemed to study him before continuing. "It's a simple job really. I need you to track down a terrorist and kill him," he said as if it was the easiest thing in the world.

Cal acually couldn't speak for a moment. What was this guy? He's a bloody lunatic! "I swore I'd never get my hands dirty again." He replied flatly. He _wasn't_ going to kill another man in his life..._again_.

Germone sighed and shook his head. "If you don't, Dr. Foster gets hurt. Do you want that to happen to her?"

He knew it was selfish to not take the job and let Gillian get hurt. But there is the one something in the back of the mind that always disagrees. And right now, that little something was really starting to sound like a psycopath. Cal just kicked it to the side and said, "Fine. I'll do it. But only if you promise she won get hurt."

Smiling once again, Germone replied in his creepy-kind voice, "Alright the-"

"Oh no you don't." Someone said from behind.


	3. Chapter 3

**TY sooo much for the awsome reviews! :) it really made my day after a horrible day at school. I'm gunna try to upload a chapter everyday but if i get to busy than maybe like once every two days. dunno really but again ty for all those who reviewed. **

"Gillian?"

Foster stood there right behind Cal who turned around with unbelievable shock plastered on his face and stared right at Germone.

"What are you doing here!" He asked, too suprised to move. Germone seemed surprised as well. And Sean hadn't even came back yet.

Completly ignoring Cal, Gillian said to Germone, "You are _not_ making him do this." She took a step foward so that she was next to Cal.

Germone recovered quikly from his _shock _and tried smiling. "Well." he started. "It's good to see you too Dr. Foster but I'm here to talk to Lightman."

Gillian shook her head, telling him she wasn't going a foot away from Cal. "No. You are not going to make Cal murder someone. Not again. The very last person he might murder, though, is you."

Cal, who had recovered from his earlier shock, turned to Gillian, "Foster I can handle it and what are you doing here!" He tried to stare at her in the eyes, but she wouldn't look at him. In fact she tried to look anywhere but at him. The worst thing was, Cal couldn't even read her due to the shock that still messed up his brain.

Germone sighed. "You know Gilllian." He purposely used her first name. "I wouldn't want Mr. Foster to get hurt while your here all alone."

Gillian stayed silent for a while. And Cal then saw right threw her. Shame, fear, and guilt flashed across her face. "What do you mean." It was Cal who answered, not Gillian. Germone turned his gaze to Cal who sighed inwardly and looked at him.

"You see. I never come unprepared for anything. I would think that is at home reading a newspaper or watching tv." He took out his cellphone and gave it to Gillian, who took is eagerly and gasped. Cal took a peak and saw that they had put a surveillance camera right outside of Gillian's home so it looked into the window. And true to his word, Alec Foster was sitting there on the big armchair, reading a book next to the fireplace. Cal looked up and saw Gillian's face. She showed fear and sadness...but it was mostly fear. Cal could have cursed all he wanted to. Seeing Gillian like that because her cheating husband was about to get hurt, hurt him just as much. In fact, it hurt more. As much as Cal didn't want to help that cheating bastard, he had to. He knew from the moment he saw Gillian's face watching that tape that he had no chance of being her man. And if Gillian was happy with Alec...then he was too. At least one of them would be happy. Even if it meant he'd spend the rest of his life only finding liars and lying to himself about the world.

"Fine. I'll take the job." He thought he heard Gillian silently say 'no' from the corner but he didn't even hear her.

Just then Sean decided to come back. He was jogging with an orange file in his hand. By the time he reached the three, he was panting. Germone got the file from him and handed it to Cal who opened it. There was a picture of a a man in his 60's with grey hair and wrinkles around the eye. He was wearing glasses and a grey two piece suit.

"His name's John DeGrow. He worked at the Pentagon right after you left but something happened and he decided to bomb the national bank. He fled to a different country but came back later with a different identity. The last few years, he was quiet but bout two weeks ago , he threatened to bomb half of the Pentagon if a guy didn't die." He cleared his throat.

"Wait." Cal said. "Whose 'the guy'"

"The guy, Lightman is you."

Cal's and Gillian's eyes widened. "What?" they both said.

"He called saying to kill Cal Lightman to him or he'll start blowing." Sean said from beside Germone.

"So why do you want ME to go and kill the guy. You have tons of people at the Pentagon who would be willing to take this job as an opportunity." Cal said looking over at Sean. "Why don't you kill me then? It'll save both me and you trouble."

Sean and Gillian were shocked that he said that. "He says you will only know where he is. And right now, we don't even have a trace where he is." Sean explained making sure Cal didn't get a good read on him. "We've tried everything."

"So you won't kill me because you believe that bloke that I know where he is. Well what if I don't know. Then will you kill me?" Cal asked with a straight face.

"Cal!" Gillian had no clue where he was going with this. Does he want to die?

Sean made sure to look at Germone before continuing in a more low tone. "I don't know why he wants you dead. I don't know where he is. Right now, I don't know anything. According to him," he pointed at the picture, "_you _know just about everything."

"Iv'e never seen this guy in my life! How the hell am I supposed to know where he is!" Cal was just angry now.

"I don't know. Just find a way." This time it was Germone.

Cal took a while to calm down. "Alright. I do this, you leave them," he pointed at Gillian, "alone."

Gillian shook her head. Germone smiled. "Deal."

"But I'm gonna need help on this. I can't do this alone." Cal completely ignored Gillian.

Germone nodded. "There's a kid about 19 that works with the FBI, CIA, and the Pentagon at the same time. He's worked like that for bout 9 years now. His name's Vance Pierce. He's currently at the FBI headquarters. The kid worked on this case for a year and I'm sure he'll help you if you ask."

Cal was silent through out the information. Vance. He knew the kid. Long long time ago...It was so long. Vance wouldn't remember who he was. If he did though, then he wouldn't forgive Cal.

**Sorry this chapters so bad. I had to rewrite this whole thing and all. So next chapter we'll see who Vance is :)))))**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey guys! heres a new chapter! i hope you enjoy it as mch as i enjoyed writing it! :))))**

"Vance? Vance Pierce? What do you need him for?" Reynolds walked faster to catch up with Cal. "Lightman!" Cal turned around and faced Reynolds.

"It's...personal stuff. I need his help for something." Reynolds stared at him for a while. He shook his head.

"How do you even know him?" Ben asked.

"Again! Personal stuff to deal with!" Cal said while waving his hands in the air.

Reynolds sighed and looked like he was thinking it over. "Fine. I'll take you to him but I can't promise you he'll be there right now."

Cal grinned in triumph but wasn't really looking forward to the meeting.

* * *

I_t was raining, raining hard. It wasn't blowing wind. It was a cold night. He walked around, kicking stones as he went. Why he decided to meet them, he had no idea. Well, it was his job. He had to try. He wasn't aware that someone followed him to near the lake in the middle of the night. He'd thought he had snuck out well. After all, he had read to his kid, said goodnight to his wife and waited almost an hour before things got settled. Then he'd gone out. Only for a little while. Just to get the reports to his boss. He hadn't known his whole life would change that night._

_

* * *

_

Ben knocked on the office door. "Agent Vance! You in there?"

No answer.

Ben slowly opened the door. No one was there. He sighed.

"He's not here. But I think I know where he is."

Cal stepped into the office from behind Ben. The office was big...bigger than Ben's anyways. Well at least Vance was successful with his life. "How old is he again."

"19." Ben laughed. And Cal smiled, while he saw right through him.

"He's higher than you, right?" Ben looked at him and stared. "He is isn't he?" Cal smiled.

"Yea. 'Bout 3 ranks." Ben said. "But the kid has done a lot of work for his entire life! I mean being in the FBI, CIA, and Pentagon at the age of 10? And to make it ... harder. He's been adopted about 7 times." Ben finished with heavy sympathy in his voice.

Cal's eyes widened. 7 times? Who the hell gets adopted seven times...and he's only a kid! He couldn't believe that! Turning to Ben he asked, "Seven times?" Ben nodded. "Are you sure?" Another nod, with confusion on his face. This was all his fault. All his damn bloody fault! He messed up another life! But it was years ago. How was he gonna know?

Cal had been silent for a whole 2 minutes with Ben staring at him. "Lightman?" He didn't move. "Lightman?" He said in a singsong voice, waving his hand in front of Cal's face. "LIGHTMAN!" He yelled.

Cal was pulled out of his train of thought. "What." He sounded irrataded but Ben wasn't gonna notice. The Brit always irratated to him.

"You want to go find Vance or are we going to stay here and chat." Ben said trying not to roll his eyes.

Instead Cal rolled his eyes. "Yea let's go find him."

They were on there way to a hospital when Cal got a call from Gillian saying that she was going to visit a family friend that was too in the hospital and that they would meet there. According to Ben, Vance had a very close friend that worked there and visited almost every single day. It was still the morning and the sun shone bright in the skies. The car skidded to a stop in front of the entrance. They went in and up 9 floors before the elevator came to a stop. Both of them stepped out and when they turned the corner, they saw Gillian walking towards them.

"Cal! Ben! What are you doing here? I thought I said I'll meet you downstairs." Gillian said to them.

Ben answered, "Well the person we're suppose to meet is on this floor."

"Oh. What's his name?"

Ben took out a piece of paper that was scribbled on. "Dr. John Crason. He's a trama surgeon." He explained.

Gillian laughed. "I'm on my way right now to meet Carson. He used to be our neighbor when I was little. He still was untill I went off to college."

"So," Ben rubbed his hands, "_very _close family friend."

"Yes. Yes he is."

"Gillian," Cal started, "I'm here to meet Vance."

Gillian didn't think for a while. "He's with Carson?"

Cal and Ben nodded. "Seems to be, yea."

There was silence.

Ben noticed this and said in a very cheerful like tone, "Well...We wouldn't want to be late. Cmon Lets go. Gillian don't you know the way to Dr. Carson's office?"

Gilian nodded. "Yea. Ben's right. It's getting late and I wouldn't want to miss the meeting we have in the afternoon."

She led them passed the hallway and to a wooden door with 'Dr. Carson.' and 'Head Trauma Suergon' on the top. Cal heard laughter from inside. Ben knocked three times.

"Come in." Said a voice.

Reynolds nodded towards them. "I'll be out in the car."

They both nodded. Cal motioned for Gillian to go in and she did. With Cal following from behind.

The door opened and Gillian said, "Carson! It's nice to see you again!"

Behind Gillian Cal could see that Carson wasn't a very young man. He had shaved his head bold but still touches of grey were on them. He looked to be about in his late 50's. He wore thin framed glasses that you could barely see. Carson got up and embraced Gillian.

"Gill! My goodness you have grown. How have you been!" He said, smiling from ear to ear.

"I've been great!" She turned towards Cal. "This is my partner and friend, Cal Lightman." Cal felt honored to be called her friend at this moment.

Carson smiled at him and shook his hand. "So your the deception expert. It's good to see you. I've read your book."

Cal returned the smile. "It's nice to meet you too. Aren't I lucky to have such a great fan. And please, call me Cal"

Gillian stepped back and admired the two. That's when she noticed another figure in the room.

* * *

_"NO!" He shouted._

_They didn't stop thought. They kept on giving his father a beating. As much as he didn't want to see that, he had to. _

_"Stop! Please!" He was crying now. His throat burned from all the yelling and his eyes were swollen. The tears flowed freely down his cheeks but in the rain, no one could tell._

_His dad lifted up his face and tried saying something. It came out as a groan and he collapsed in a heap. The boy tried running to his father but they held him down. _

_He looked at one of them straight in the eye and said, "I HATE YOU!" He started kicking and squirming. Nothing worked. They were jsut too strong for a boy his age. _

_"FINE!" He finally said. "I'll do it!"_

_His father looked up again and said, "No...Don't. I'm fine." He tried to smile but failed horribly._

_The kid looked at his father and never thought these were the last words he was going to hear from him. "I'm going to find you again. Even_

_if you don't remember...I'll still find you."_

_

* * *

_

"Vance!" She said.

Cal looked to see where she was looking. Vance Pierce was sitting on one of the sofa's and was watching them. He was a well built boy for his age. Vance looked at Gillian and his eyes widened a little in surprise.

"D-Dr. Foster?" He asked. He had an English accent.

Everyone in the room was confused. Carson turned to Gillian and said, "Vance came by for a visit. And you decided to tag along. Isn't that great?"

Cal was the most confused. Did Gillian know this kid? What was going on!

Gillian must have sensed his confusion. "Vance, I'd like you to meet Dr. Lightman." She said, pointing to where Cal was standing.

Vance got up and shook his hand. "Very nice to meet you Dr. Lightman."

Cal was shocked. The kid didn't remember. That was a good thing...right? "Very nice to meet you. I heard so much of you from Ben."

"Ben Reynolds?" Carson asked.

Cal turned to him. "Yes. He drove me here."

"Oh. I've met him once or twice before. Great guy that man is."

Gillian smiled. "He is."

Vance cleared his throat. "I should be going now." He started to leave when Cal stopped him by the arm.

"N-no. Why don't we talk? You know...Get to know eachother more."

Gillian could see his panic. Luckily Vance accepted. They all sat down on the couches facing eachother, and just talked.

"So Dr. Foster. I haven't seen you in...a while." Vance started.

Gillian nodded. "I missed takling to you over the years." She smiled, warmly.

"Did you guys know eachother before?" Carson asked them.

"You know how I told you about when I was a litle kid, I had to go to a psychologist?" Vance explained to Carson who nodded. "Well Dr. Foster was my psychologist back then. I went there for about 3 years then I left for the Pentagon."

Cal's stomach lurched. "How old were you when you first worked at the Pentagon?" he asked.

"About 9 or 10 I think." Vance said.

Cal nodded. 10! At the age of 10 this kid works at the Pentagon!

Just then Carson's pager beeped. He looked at it and frowned. "I got to go. Emergency downstair."

Gillian nodded and Casron left after saying goodbye to everyone. Vance leaned back in the couch. "So what are you doing here Dr. Foster?"

"I came here to talk to Carson. Well just to say hi. I was in the nieghborhood." She explained.

Vance nodded. "Well It was great to see you again. And you to Dr. Lightman."

Gillian looked at Cal who nodded. "Vance. We also came to see you." Cal leaned in. "You know about John DeGrow right?"

That caught his attention. "Yea. Acually I do."

"Well. Gillian and I are working on a case. He's recently working on trying to bomb the Pentagon."

"Yea. I heard about that." Vance said, clearly interested now.

"Well...I need to find this guy and bring him down. Do you think you can help us?"

Vance took a moment. "Alright I'll help you."

Cal and Gillian smiled and sighed in relief. They all stood up.

"I'll contact you by Agent Reynolds." Vance said. He smiled one last time before he waslked out.

Gillian sighed and sat back down. She never thought it'd be _that_ Vance. The kid she had tried to help years ago. Cal sat next to her and took her hand.

"Gillian. I need to tell you something." He said in a serious tone.

She looked at him and asked in the most concerenrd way. "Cal what's wrong?"

Cal seemed to hesitate before answering. "You know when I told you that I had a son before Emily?"

Gillian nodded, a little hesitant. "Well... that son is Vance."


	5. Chapter 5

**Sorry it took so long to update. TY for the reviews! :))))**

**I hope you enjoy this one. It's just a simple chap about how Vance thought of his dad when he was little.**

"W-what!"

Gillian was shocked. More shocked than she had ever been in her life.

"When he stood up, there was a scar on his neck. A quiet big one too. He got that...at the night when it happened." Cal explained, putting his head inside his hand ashamed of himself.

Gillian put a comfroting hand on his arm. "Hey. It's ok. It wasn't your fault."

Cal looked up. "But it is! If I hadn't been so preoccupied with what I was doing, then maybe I would have noticed him in the back." He shook his head. "Then I see him right in front of me 13 years later. He's all grown up, and he doesn't notice me. It'd be better if he just hated me right now!"

Gillian swallowed hard before saying the next words. "Cal...when he came in to my office with a note from one of the bosses at the Pentagon, he was silent for at least a month before he started talking about how his life was. The first thing he told me was that he didn't remember who his dad was." Cal laughed humourlessly.

"Before they took him to the Pentagon, they erased his memory and filled it with lies." Cal said.

Gillian nodded and continued. "He once told me that his parents were expecting a sister though. He told me they were going to name her Emily." Cal clenched his fist. "By the time three years ended...I found out that they erased only the good memories. Not the bad expreiences he had. Like the car accident, When he was bullied at school...or the..."

"Incident at the lake

* * *

." Cal finished for her.

Gillian looked down. "Yea."

Cal saw that she was uncomfortable. "So. How does Carson know Vance?" He asked.

"Well, before I was his psychologist, Carson knew him. Actually Carson knew him right after the accident. He said he found Vance in the street. Carson was working at the Pentagon for something back then and he had to take Vance there because the boy didn't want him to leave. So Carson took Vance with him to work and Germone saw him. I don't know why but he wanted Vance to work at the Pentagon when he got older. But Vance wasn't really ready for that...mentally. So he sent Vance to see me and for three years I tried to cure Vance. I didn't know what it was for. During those three years, Carson came by my parents house when we were all having a birthday party for my mom and brought Vance with him. Our whole family knows who Vance is and what he does. Even my niece and nephew call him 'uncle'." She took a breath. "The way Carson looked at Vance, it was like a fatherly proud way. Then when Vance got an A on his report card, he'd give a tap on the back and say 'good job'. I've never seen Carson be like that before. He has a biological son. Two, actually. Of course, there much older. Graduated college and have a job already. But the way he looks at them and when he looks at Vance is so different."

Cal was silent throughout the explanation. Vance had a fatherly figure. He did look happy. Why did everyone have to be happy? Everyone except him. When he promised Vance that night, he made a promise to himself too. To get out of the mess and find his son. He did try and looked for him, but didn't here about an abandoned boy in the middle of no where. When ever someone would say Vance. he would ask right away. One of the hardest things was to tell Zoe. She cried for weeks. but when Emily was born, she had to be strong. For her. But Zoe never forgot him. Every now and then, she would look at the picture with Cal, her and Vance on there vacation to Hawaii. Cal would try to convince her to let it go...nothing worked. Emily had kind of saved her from that.

"Cal I have some tapes of the sessions Vance and I had back then. You can see it if you want." Gillian smiled warmly.

Cal smiled back, glad to have someone like that he could trust and love.

* * *

_"Come sit down Vance." _

Cal watched the screen carefully. On it was young Dr. Foster and his son who at the time was 7 years old.

_Vance closed the door and sat on the couch in front of Dr. Foster. The first thing she noticed as she too sat down, was that his eyes were red. He looked tired and looked like he hadn't eaten for a while._

_"Do you want something to eat before we began?" Gillian asked._

_The boy shook his head, fixing his gaze to the floor._

_"Alright." Gillian tried to sound cheerful to raise the mood. "Did you have a good day at school?"_

_Vance nodded. He was lying. And Gillian saw it._

_"Tell me about it."_

_Vance swallowed hard. "I had math then English then history and i had to go with to the Dentist." he finished quietly._

_"Vance. Don't call your dad by his last name." Gillian scowled softly._

_Vance looked up. "He's not my dad."_

_Gillian sighed then nodded. "How was the Dentist?" she took notes._

_"Boring. I got braces." He pointed at his teeth. Green and orange braces stuck to his teeth._

'He's a quiet boy.' Cal thought. He continued to watch the film.

_"That's great!" Gillian exclaimed. "How does it feel?"_

_"Numb." He replied flatly._

_Gillian nodded. "You know I had braces as a kid. They were kinda cool you know."_

_Vance didn't reply. The silence went on like that for a while. Gillian turned on some soft jazz music and pretended to take notes. She was trying to get him to talk on himself._

_Vance leaned in and took the notepad and pen from the table and scribbled down something. He put it down and passed it too Gillian._

_Dr. Foster looked at it and was surprised._

Cal turned to Gillian. "What did the paper say."

Gillian hesitated. "It said, 'I want to forget my dad.'"

Cal was surprised as much as Gillian was in that film. "W-wasn't he adopted back then?"

Gillian nodded. "But he meant his real dad."

Cal continued to watch the film.

_"W-what do you mean?" Gillian asked, trying to not show her surprise. _

_"Not him." Vance said. "My real dad."_

_Gillian took a deep breath. "Vance...do you remember anything about your biological father?"_

_He was silent. "Yes. I don't want to remember it though."_

_"Tell me about it." She took down some notes again. "When your ready of course." she added._

_There was a couple minute of silence. Vance fidgeted with his sleeve. _

_"You know...I've been thinking. What do you think he would say if I ever saw him again." he finally asked._

_Gillian looked up. "I'm sure he'd be happy." she tried to be reassuring. _

_"No he won't. He'll just think that I would be in the way of his perfect life and tell me to get lost."_

Cal was actually surprised that a 7 year old would say that.

_Gillian leaned forward a bit and put a hand on his shoulder. "He wouldn't say that."_

_"I don't want to see that man again."_

The tape ended. Gillian sighed and took out the DVD. Cal stayed silent. Gillian sat down next to him.

"I'm sure he was just kidding."

Cal swallowed. "You saw his face. He was dead serious."

Gillian nodded. "I hope it didn't have to be like that."

The office phone started to ring. Cal slumped back, his face full of shame. "Don't they have some sort of time machine? I mean it's 2010."

Gillian smiled at Cal. She stood up and answered the phone. She frowned, said 'Ok I'll tell him', and hung up.

Cal saw her and frown. "Cal." She said, "we have a problem."

**Did ya like it? reviews make me happeh! .**


	6. Chapter 6

**I love u guys! your reviews have been awsome! Sorry I didn't update sooner. The school and homework and friends and homework and teachers and homework made me busy . (and yes ill stop using 'gunna' .. well for a while .) Even if you guys don't have a username and just reading it and enjoying, that alrite with me! :D Anyways this is another random chapta...ENOJI!**

"DeGrow has a younger brother that used to help him in whatever DeGrow needed help with. He was in prison but somehow managed to break out."

Vance, Cal, and Gillian were walking around the FBI headquarters. They stopped in front of his office and walked in. Gillian took a seat on the couch and Cal went to the T.V. and turned it on. Vance went to his desk, got a file and handed it to Cal, who opened it and started reading.

"Evan J. DeGrow. He's about 24 now. Went to prison two years ago for murder. Now this," he pointed to a part in the file. "is where he might be. We're not exacly sure but Evan is probably going to DeGrow right now." He took a drink from the glass in front of him and Cal noticed that he wore a black leather glove on his left hand. Then noticed that he had that on from the start. He had seen him wear it when they first met and he also had a glove on in the tape. Wondered what it was...

"So what do we do?" Gillian spoke up.

"Well, for now our teams working on tracking him down. If we found Evan then that's a huge lead on where DeGrow is."

"Why didn't you question him in jail?" Cal asked.

Vance took out his phone. "We did acually. And when Degrow made the threat to the Pentagon, Evan got up and dissapeared," he snapped his fingers, "just like that."

They both nodded. "So what can we do to help?"

"To start with, you two need to interview someone. His name's Bill Delsum. He's Evan's friend from Eroupe. He helped out the two brothers but didn't get out of jail when Evan did. We saw them talking before the night Evan escaped. And we're pretty sure he knows where Evan is."

* * *

"Did you talk to Evan DeGrow in prison?" Cal and Gillian sat on the opposite side of their victim. Bill wasn't that old. In fact his was younger than Vance. He had a red prison suit on and looked extremely bored. They were in a room inside the prison with Vance behind, leaning against the wall.

"Yes. Yes I did." Truth

"Did you help him escape?" Gillian asked.

"No." Lie. She wasn't impressed. Cal studied the boy closely. He can read his face like a book.

"That's a lie," he pitched in. Bill turned from Gillian to Cal.

"Now why would I lie about that, Dr. Lightman." He asked in a calm voice.

The corner of Cal's mouth turned, forming a smile. "You tell me." He shifted in his seat.

Bill was silent. Gillian looked to Vance who had his eyes closed and his head down. She turned back around and found Bill staring at Cal to Vance.

"Didn't get much sleep Agent Vance? Or thinking about how your life is messed up." Bill said with a grin. Vance looked up and glared at Bill. Cal and Gillian suddenly felt uncomfortable.

"Let's not get into other people's buisness." Gillian said, while glancing at Cal for back up.

Cal caught that sign and slammed the file on the table. That got his attention.

"Bloody hell!" He said. "Why don't we skip all this nonsence and get on with this!" Cal made a random gesture with his hand.

Bill leaned back on his chair. He seemed satisfide. Cal looked annoyed. Gillian looked nervous. And Vance seemed...angry. The guards changed shifts right outside the cell door.

"Let's get back on track. What were you and Evan talking about the night before he escaped?"

"That's none of your buisness now is that, Dr. Foster." The young man said.

"Why were you scared that night?" Cal asked while leaning sideways in a lazy way. "Afraid to get your ass kicked if you didn't?" Bill started getting nervous. "Or were you just afraid that if you get caught, there might not be another chance for you in this world."

Bill swallowed and looked up. He smiled. "I have no clue what your talking about."

Gillian took out a picture and slid it to Bill. It was a picture taken from their conversation. "Right there," she pointed at his face. "is fear."

Cal saw it. Right now at this moment, Bill was showing fear and angsioty. "Why you scared Bill?"

"I'm not scared." he replied flatly.

"Yes you are." Cal said.

A loud noise was heard outside the cell door. Vance glanced up and looked out again. They all turned, even Bill. Vance walked over and knocked on the door. A few seconds later, the door opened and a large guy looked through. "You all done?" He asked in a scruffy, not-to-be-taken-easily way.

"No, acually we're not. I thought I heard a noise outside and was going to ask if everythings ok." Vance replied calmy.

The guy nodded, looked around, and said, "Everythings fine. We just got a little complicated out here. No big."

Vance nodded and the guy stepped back again, closing the door and a shuffle of keys and the click of a lock could be heard. Gillian had been watching the guy the whole time, while Cal had his eyes on Bill. He seemed nervous and angsious before the guy opened the door. Then when he opened the door and the guy stepped foward, he was filled with huge relief. Cal kept on wondering why.

Gillian looked at Cal and Bill who were staring at eachother with a stare that would make anyone uncomfortable. Vance stood behind Gillian, his gun was hanging off his holister a bit. He crossed his arms and stood like a body gaurd. Cal shook himself from the staring contest and came back to the real world.

"What were you two talking about. Just tell us that and we'll go and leave you alone." Cal said with a sigh.

"We were just talking. A nice chat. How the hell was I supposed to know it was going to be the last?" Bill was trying his best to sound annoyed.

Cal took the case file and flipped it open. He took out a piece of paper and handed it to Gillian. "You think that would be enough?" He asked.

Gillian scanned the paper and frowned. She looked up to say something and the look on Cal's face was all she needed to know what was going on. "Yea. It seems like enough."

Bill was sitting on the chair and was looking very annoyed. "For what?" He asked, unable to control his curiousness.

Cal handed him the paper. "Evidence. We had enough to take you to court." He said with a smile.

Behind them, Vance smiled. He knew it was fake but when he saw the look on Bill's face, he couldn't help the chuckle that came out. It was priceless. He heard a faint noise from behind the cell door but it sounded like outside the main dorm so he didnt mind it at all. Mistake.

A second later, four large men burst into the room. Nonw of them had guns. But by the looks of it, a couple of punches from them could knock anyone out cold. Cal snapped his head up and saw them. Gillian had surprise written all over her face and Vance reached for his gun. Which wasn't there. He looked around, panicked untill he saw that Bill had his gun and had him at gun point. He slowly raised his hands while Gillian backed away from the men behind Cal. They were backed to the corner of the room with only themselves as weapon. Vance quickly looked around. There wasn't a way out except the door...but the men blocked that. There _was _a window behind them, but it was to small and was barred.

"I think I have the upper hand here." Bill said with a smile that Cal wanted to punch so badly. But if he took a step closer the idiot would shoot Vance. He knew that much. There was no science needed, this guy murdered before. He heard Gillian wimper behind him. He reached back and took a hold of her hand as a comforting gesture. She squeezed it. Cal knew he had to calm him down or everybody was going to get hurt.

"Listen mate, I know how you feel. I really do. But violence isn't the answer to this." he said calmly. He swallowed hard and stole a glance at Vance. He seemed to be kind of moving his way foward...where the chairs were. Knowing he need more time till he got close enough, he went on. "If you do this, you'll be miserable." Bill glanced at him. "For the rest of your life." he added.

Bill glared at Cal before turning the gun at him. Gillian gasped. Vance was a foot close to the chairs when Bill said, "I'm not messing up my life. No one is." He put his finger on his trigger. It wasn't a second to late. Vance threw one of the chairs at Bill, knocking him and the gun down before he got a chance to shoot. One of the big guys ran forward and before Vance could do anything, he grabbed him, pulled him up by the shirt, and pinned him to the wall which knocked the breath out of him. The other two went for Cal and Gillian. At first, Cal tried to protect Gillian. And in turn, ended up with a punch to the head. He stumbled backwards and could hardly see Gillian struggling and calling out his name. The man pinned him to the floor. He kicked, punched, and shoved but nothing worked. He saw Gillian being held by the arms. He turned his already hurting head and saw Vance. A couple of guys held him down while Bill, who recovered from the blow, punched him in the stomach. Vance's breath flew out of him. He gasped and tried to breathe. The next thing, Cal saw, but Bill didn't. Vance reached out and grabbed a hold of the gun that was sticking off the edge of Bill's belt, and shot him...in the leg.

Bill fell down in pain and agony. The two men that were holding him down, looked shocked. They seemed to forget what they were doing. The men that were holding Cal and Gillian seemed the same. Bill's cries only grew louder. Vance was breathing heavily and he smirked. There was a bang and a load of people came in.

"FBI! Don't move!" It was Reynolds. The four men let go of Vance, Cal, and Gillian put there hands up. One of the FBI agents came forward and cuffed Bill's hands.

"We need to get him to a hospital." He said. "Fast."

Reynolds nodded. They moved him away in a strecher and Ben came forward to Cal, who had Gillian in his arms. "Hey. You two ok?"

Cal looked up. "Yea we're fine." Gillian also looked up. She wasn't crying, just a little sobbing. Brave woman she is.

"Well we have to get you two to a hospital." Reynolds said, looking at the cut on Cal's temple and Gillian's arm, which seemed sprained.

They nodded. Getting up, Cal looked around the room. The only saw FBI agents scanning the place but no sign of Vance anywhere. Where had he gone to? "Hey Ben." Reynolds turned around.

"Yea?"

"Where's Vance. He was here just a minute ago." Cal stated.

Ben looked around too. He frowned. "I think he's outside. Might be talking to the director."

Once outside Cal and Gillian both saw Vance...who was talking to Germone. He seemed pretty mad, no actually furious. Germone looked troubled and tried to calm him down. Cal could see him yelling and couldn't hear what he was saying. They were too far away. Ben came back and drove to the hospital.

* * *

"Well everything seems to be fine. You can go now." The doctor smiled and walked away. Gillian was sitting on the hospital emergency bed with a brace in her arm. Alec was standing next to her with a fake worried expression on his face. When he had been called to the hospital because Gillian couldn't drive home alone, he had been furious. To Cal. He started shouting and him, yelling at him. He even almost punched him once. Gillian and Ben made sure that didn't happen. Cal was just outside the door and was talking with Vance and Ben. Gillian got up and was going to walk out the door when Alec stepped forward and blocked her way.

"Where are you going?" he questioned suspiciously.

Gillian sighed. "To work." she didn't know how else to reply. In truth, she needed to talk to Cal.

Alec crossed his arm. "Your hurt. Your going to go home."

"I'm going to work." She spilled out every syllable.

Alec was silent for a fraction of a second. "To be alone with Cal?"

Gillian excepted that. "No. I have a lot of paper work to do Alec." She made another move to the door. Alec got in her way again.

"You aren't going to that man. He messed you up! Look at you! This marriage isn't going to work if _he_ keeps on getting in the way!" he motioned between them.

Gillian felt the urge to slap him. She stayed silent and shoved him out of the way. She opened the door and saw Cal sitting and one of the benches with Vance. They seemed to be talking about something important. She gulped and walked over to them.

Vance looked up. Cal said something to him and he stood up. "Dr. Foster it's good to know that your ok." he said.

She smiled. Vance flashed her a smile and to Cal and walked into the direction Gillian just came from. Gillian saw Cal watching his retreating form. She sat down next to him and held his hand. He looked at her straight in the eyes and grinned. "How you doin Foster? Are you ok?" She now realized how much she hated that name.

"Great Cal." She pulled him into a hug.

"I'm sorry." he whispered into he ear.

"It's not your fault." They looked at eachother again. "Can you take me to work?"

Cal saw Alec's form on the other side of the door and smiled at Gillian. He knew exactly why she said that. "Sure. Cmon we'll go in Ben's car."

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	7. Chapter 7

**Hey guys! sorry it took so long. Computers stupid. anyways this is another chapter and i hope you enjoii! :))**

"_News reports have said that Bill Delsum, a murder criminal, has been shot in the leg while in the jail cell. By whom, it is unknown. It is said that he is currently in the local hospital under heavy police security_."

Vance turned off the t.v. He sighed and covered his face with his hands. He was sitting in the dark room of his office. The blinds were closed and the lights turned off. It was raining outside. The rain splashed on the window and fell down. He hated the rain. He was tired and sleepy. It was two days after the trip to the jail. Dr. Gillian _and _Dr. Lightman got hurt. He suddenly felt responsible for the two adults getting hurt. He could have punched himself right there. Dr. Gillian was always nice. She cared for almost everybody. But Dr. Lightman, he looked different. He had talked to Ben once, about work. But it ended up about Dr. Lightman.

"He...cares for you. I mean I've seen the way he's talked with Loker and it's well different." He'd said.

What did he mean? Well Vance didn't hate the guy. He actually liked the Brit. He was different then others. He liked taking risks even if it meant his own life. Vance heard he had a daughter named Emily. He was divorced but he looked happy around Dr. Foster. Sometimes he didn't get the guy. He was thinking when the room burst with light. He groaned and looked up. Sean stood there with one eyebrow raised. The sight reminded him of his old friend Cal. He was suddenly swept by saddness. He knew Vance was Cal's kid. He didn't say anything though.

"Did anyone ever tell you how much you act like a vampire?" He said.

Vance was confused for a while. Sean sighed, sensing his confusion. "What do you want Sean." He asked in an annoyed tone.

Sean slumped down on the chair opposite of Vance's desk. "I was just bored and I thought I'd drop by."

"What, no going back to the Pentagon?" He twirled a pen between his fingers.

"Nope. Germone's got everything figured out for now."

Vance up at him for a second. "Germone." He laughed. "I hate that guy."

"C'mon, he's not that bad." Sean defended him.

Vance put his feet up on his desk and leaned back. "Shouldn't you be going now? I heard you had a meeting with a big company."

Sean sighed. He got up and turned to leave. "If you need anything just call."

* * *

"I can't go mom. No. Yes it's work and- Look I just can't." Gillian paced around her office. "Mom look..." She saw Cal walk around the corner, headed towards her office. "I got to go. I'll call you later."

Cal opened the door and knocked right when she hung up. "What was that about Luv?" He walked in and took a seat on the sofa. They've been through a lot lately.

"My mom." She also took a seat. "It's my dad's birthday the day after tomorrow and she wants me to be there." She sighed.

Cal saw her uncomfort. It wouldn't be right to not go to your dad's birthday party. Even if they hadn't seen eachother in a long time. "Listen Luv, you should go. I'll handle things here while your gone."

Gillian looked at him as if he was crazy. "I think you already know the answer to that." She flexed her arm. He brace was gone now and it felt good.

"Listen Gill, its' you dad's birthday. Once a year event." He pointed out.

Gillian opened her mouth to say something when Loker walked in. "Hey. This kid named Vance wanted me to tell you that he has a lead on where a guy named Evan might be. A teen said that he saw Evan walking by with another male."

Cal turned to him. "Where is it?"

* * *

"I cannot _believe_ that Evan showed up in the same town as where my parent's house is." Gillian stated. She turned and almost looked like she was glaring at Cal, who put his hands up in mock surrender.

"Look it's not my fault, Luv. I didn't carry the guy over there so you will go to your dad's party." Cal smiled. He wished he did though. This time she _did _glare at him.

Gillian sighed. "Alec said he has an important meeting and that he can't make it."

Cal knew she was sad. He put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "It's alright."

She closed her eyes. The pitter patter of the rain outside was sharp in her ears. Alec was lying, anyone could see that. She just didn't know why he would lie. She was frustrated more than ever. If she went without him, her parents are going to get suspicious. She could just tell them that he had buisness to attend to but her mother could read her almost as good as Cal. She sighed inwardly. She looked up at Cal's warm eyes. She put her hand over his. "Your going right?"

Cal studied her for a moment. "I'll have to stay at a hotel but yeah."

Gillian nodded. She didn't want Cal to stay at a hotel. All by himself. She thought about asking him to stay at the house, but he'd refuse. "I'll call my mom and tell her I'm going."

Cal nodded. He slipped his hands from over her shoulders and stuffed them in his pockets. I'll be waiting outside Luv."

* * *

His phone rang while he was sleeping in his bed. He almost growled. He hadn't slept for two days and the phone was ringing. Stupid phone. He reached for it and without even looking at the caller ID he picked it up.

"This better be something important." He barked.

"Vance?"

He shot up in his bed. He knew that voice. "Mrs. Anderson?"

"Yes it's me. Why do you sound so tired? Are you ok?" She asked. Mrs. Anderson, also Dr. Foster's mom, was always concerened. Much like Dr. Foster. The three days he had spent in her house when he was 6 had been great. Almost perfect. Then he visited again when Dan, Gillian's brother, got married and had kids.

"I'm fine. What is it? Is everything alright? You called in the middle of the night." He replied in a much softer tone.

Mrs. Anderson laughed. "Vance, it's 3 in the afternoon."

Vance looked around. He got up and opened the curtains. He was blinded by the light that burst onto his eyes. Then he looked at the clock next to the bed. It was 3. He cursed. "Oh sorry Mrs. Anderson. I may have overslept a little."

"You should sleep more often Vance. Not waking up until 3." She scowled. "And call me Carol. I've been telling you that ever since you got back."

"Ok, Carol." He said uncomfortably. He could hear her smile on the other line. She always liked it when he called her by her first name and not her last.

"Oh and Vance, Gregory's birthday is the day after tomorrow. I was hoping if you can come." She asked.

He had forgotten about his birthday. Well he was going there to figure out where Evan was anyways. But he didn't want any danger in that house. Especially not on a birthday. Were Dr. Foster and Dr. Lightman going? Dr. Foster he had no doubt about it.

"Sure I'll go." He smiled.

"That's great!" She said cheerfully. "Don't tell Gregory though. It's supposed to be a surprise."

"Alright I wont't, Carol." He chuckled.

They hung up and Vance looked out the window again. The sun was shining now. No more rain. But the sidewalks were wet. He sighed. What if Gregory didn't remember him? I had been about 3 years now. He wondered if Carson was going. If he went then at least there would be someone he can talk to. Dr. Foster would be going...wouldn't she? And if she was going, then Dr. Lightman was going. He decided to call her and ask. He reached for his phone and punched in some numbers.

It wasn't her that picked up on the fourth ring. "Hello?"

"Hi. Isn't this Dr. Foster's phone?" he asked.

"Yea it is. She went out for a slushy and left her phone here." Dr. Lighman replied.

"Oh." I guess I could talk to him about it, he thought. "Dr. Lightman-"

"Cal."

"Cal," He corrected himself. "I was wondering if you were going with Dr. Foster to Greg's party... you know, while we're working."

There was a cough on the other end. "Yea. I'm going. Well not to the party but to work."

Vance noddded, then noticed that Lightman couldn't see him. He scowled himself mentally for being that stupid. "Well I'll see you outside the airport at about 3 tomorrow to pick you guys up."

"Your going there first?" Cal couldn't think of a reason why he would go there faster.

"Yea well I gotta do some stuff before." Vance answered in the most un-suspicious way. Then he thought, 'I'm just going there early because I have nothing else to do. Why the hell am I so nervous everyday!'

"Alright. 3 at the airport." Cal and Vance hung up after saying good bye.

Vance sat back down on his bed. His thoughts rambled to Amy. He wondered if she still went to school there. Amy was the only person that ever talked to him while he went to elementary school in that area. She was pretty, nice, and smart. Vance hadn't explained to her that he was going to the Pentagon when he left. He hadn't even known. Actually, he had thought that he would come back. Then after a couple of years later, he went to visit Carol and Greg and he bumped into her on the way back to the airport. They talked for a while but then Sean showed up and told him he had to go. He was only in middle school then. Then she was in high school he had to visit Gregory, they got into a fight, he stormed out of the house and somehow Amy found him. At first Vance was in denial and Amy tried to talk to him. But Vance yelled something he totally regretted, she stared at him shocked, and stalked off. He hadn't seen Amy _or_ Gregory since.

He dropped onto the bed. And thought this over. He made up his mind and dialed the airport for tickets.

* * *

Cal told Ria and Loker that he and Gillian had a case and had to go somewhere for a few days, that Torres was in charge while they were gone. He had packed, met her at the airport, got something to eat before the ride and got on. Gillian looked nervous throughout the ride. She just kept her eyes outside the window, even when they closed it. But she didn't seem to notice. Cal sighed. By the time they were off, his whole body ached. He helped Gillian with her luggage and they got out of the busy and big airport. They immediately spotted Vance. He was leaning against the hood of his jet black Hummer. He spotted the two and waved to them. They got in, Gillian in the back and Cal in the passengers seat. Vance drove since he argued he wasn't tired at all. Gillian lay in the back and was quietly sleeping. Cal slumped down against the seat belt and closed his eyes. He was tired as hell. And he was sure Vance was too. He took a glance at Vance, who was lazily eying the road. It would take them a few hours to get to the small town called Donning Town. It was amazing how a town had a college.

Cal slowly fell asleep. When he woke up, Vance wasn't in his seat anymore. He looked out the other side of the window. They were parked next to the gas station. Cal looked out to see that Gillian was awake and talking to someone outside. He saw her come back in and pretended to be asleep. "Mornin Luv." He said sleepily.

Gillian looked up and smiled. She leaned in. "Hey. You were sleeping. I didn't want to disturb you." She handed him his phone back. He hadn't even noticed it was gone. He looked at her.

"Who was it?" He stared at her and tried to read her.

She reached for her purse. "Ria." she answered plainly.

"What did she want."

"Had some trouble with a case and called."

Cal smiled. She wasn't lying to her. A second later Cal saw Vance walk out of the store with an energy drink in one hand and an orange slushy and coke in the other. He set the slushy and coke down on the table next to him, cracked opened the drink, and swallowed it in one big glup. Cal was actually not surprised. The boy had been driving for a couple of hours. And it looked like he didn't sleep in the plane either. The thought of his own kid being tired as hell drove Cal crazy. He wanted to comfort him. Put an arm around him and say that everything's ok like he did with Emily. He missed his boy. Vance had dark circles under his eyes and his clothes were wrinkled. Cal looked down as Vance approached the car with the orange slushy and coke. He handed Gillian the slushy who thanked him and seeing Cal awake, he gave Cal the coke.

"I didn't really know what you liked so..." He gestured towards the bottle.

Cal smiled. "This is perfect."

That brought a smile to Vance's face. He climbed into the car and started the engine. Cal silently watched Vance's tired form and Gillian watched Cal's concerned.

"Do you want me to drive?" Cal offered.

"Nah I'm good." With that the car roared to life and they started driving again.

* * *

It was 6 in the after noon, Vance pulled into a familiar street. The trees waved and the cool breeze ran across his face as the car went on. He pulled over on the drive way of a big but cozy looking house. Gililan sighed. Cal stared. This was the first time he had ever seen Gillian's house before. It looked...nice. The flowers were perfect in front and made the house look brighter. The neighborhood was quiet but he saw some joggers and people walking their dogs. They climbed outand Gillian was the first to be there. Cal stayed back with Vance, they decided that he would drive Cal to his hotel. A few seconds later, the door opened to a woman that looked about in her 60's. She certainly looked motherly and had the most kindest eyes ever. She pulled Gillian into a hug.

"Gill! I'm glad you decided to come!" She beamed at her daughter. Then two kids about 10 and 11 came bouncing behind Carol and hugged Gillian's legs.

"Aunt Gilly!" they cried. "We missed you!" They smiled. Gillian's niece and nephew. He heard her talking about them once or twice at work. The older one was Brian, the younger one was Sarah.

Gillian laughed. "It's good to see you too. You guys been good?"

They nodded their heads like bobble heads. They looked around and found Vance and ran over to him, hugging him.

"Uncle Vance!"

Vance hugged them back. "Hey guys. Give Danny a hard time?" He nodded. He laughed. "Good job." He high fived them. They looked to Cal and waved at him. Who waved back.

Cal stood back and watch admired the view. He almost cried when he thought about his own mom. Carol stepped forward and hugged Vance.

Gillian stepped next to Cal and introduced him. "Mom this is Cal. My partner." She smiled at him.

Cal shook her hand. "Nice to meet you Mrs. Anderson." He smiled.

"So your the lie detector. Please. Call me Carol. Mrs. Anderson makes me sound old." she turned to Gillian. "Gilly where's Alec?"

She hesitated. Sensing her trouble, Vance stepped in. "He's away on a business trip. Won't be back for a couple of days." Gillian sighed in relief and flashed him a smile.

"Oh." Carol sounded disappointed. But Cal saw her face and she looked happy.

"Well. I should be going now." Cal said.

"Where to?" Carol asked.

"The hotel I'm staying in." He answered.

"Hotel? Oh pish posh! You are going to stay here." She said with disbelief in her eyes.

Cal glanced at Gillian first. She nodded. Carol saw the two and smiled inwardly. Without waiting for an answer, Gillian took Cal's hand and led him inside. The house looked bigger inside than it did outside.

"Cal, you can have the room next to Vance's." Carol said.

"You still kept mine?" Vance asked, coming in and shutting the door. The two kids were still hanging around his suit case. They liked him a lot.

"Of course we did! Now hurry up and get changed. We need to be somewhere in half and hour."

She walked away to the kitchen. Gillian caught up with her. "Mom. We're actually here for business too. So is it ok if we stay here a couple more days?"

"Sure it is honey." She smiled at her again. "Anything for my little girl.

**Did you like it? Oh and Donning Town is a town i made up so it's not real...unless it really is real then i have some studying to do. REVIEWS make me HAPPPEEEEHHH :)))**


	8. Chapter 8

**Sup guys! me back with chapta 8! the next chapter is gunna be like the starting of the case and in search for evan degrow so sty tuned! :)**

Gillian was still tired. She dumped her trunk on the floor of her old room. The room looked same as it always had. Her bed was purple with white laces, the desk was face so it looked out the window, and there was a painting on top of the bed. It was a picture that she had drawn for her parents in middle school. Being back in this room made her think of back to when she was a kid andher eyes got watery. She didn't go to college in this town because it wasn't yet built. She sat on the bed, thinking about the case. She knew Cal didn't want her to be there, but she did. She didn't want to make him go through this alone. She knew it would seem suspicious that they were so close as to let him stay at her parents house, but she couldn't help it. She got changed and went out of her room. She walked across the hallway until she got in front of the guest room that Cal was staying in.

She hesitated. Then she knocked and opened the door. Cal was sprawled on the bed with his shoes still on. He had changed though. A black sweater and jeans. His eyes were closed but he said, "What is it Luv?" He grumbled, cracking open an eye.

She closed the door behind her and sat down on the edge of the bed. "Mom says let's go swimming with the kids. They've been stuck in this house for the whole day." she said slowly.

Cal heard the way she said 'kids' and knew she was sad. He turned, and got up. "Let's go then Luv." He got up, got his coat, and stared putting on his shoes.

Gilian watched him tie his shoe. "Cal." He didn't look up.

"Yea?"

"Don't you think we should get down to buisness first?" Gillian asked with curisousness in her voice.

He looked up. "Nah darlin. For the next day, your here to be with your parents. Then we get down to buisness." He went back to tying his shoe.

She noticed how he said 'your' not 'we're'. She sighed as he stood up.

They went down the stairs and to the living room. Vance was sitting on one of the couches and Brian and Sarah were next to him watching t.v. They sat down on the same couch, the one next to the one Brian and Sarah were hopping on. Vance seemed very interested in the news he was watching and didn't seem to notice them. Carol walked in with a batch of cookies and set them on the table. Seeing Vance, she sighed.

"Vance, don't bear a hole into the t.v." she laughed.

Vance shook his head out of the t.v. Brian got up and munched on a cookie. Sarah got two and gave one to Gillian and Cal. They smiled and said their thank you's. She got her own and scooted up next to Cal. She looked up at him with cute, adorable eyes. "What's your name?" she asked, blinking her eye like a puppy.

Cal smiled at her. "Cal Lightman. You can call me Cal."

She nodded. "I'm Sarah." She stuck out her hand, and he shook them. She giggled. "You have an accent like Uncle's" For a 10 year old, she sure sounded like she was 5. Cal shook her hand and he heard Gillian laugh from behind.

"How do you know Aunt Gillian and Uncle Vance?" she asked. She sure did ask alot of questions. Curious little girl.

"I work with them." he anwsered simply. He took a bite of his cookie.

"Cool!" Brian threw a paper ball at her head. She wipped around and gave him a glare. He responded by sticking out his tongue and running off. Sarah quickly jumped off, gave Cal a hug, and ran after her brother. Cal was surprised. Had she hugged him? Gillian watched his face and tried to hold in her laugh.

"Cal?" he turned to her. "You look like you've seen a ghost." She chuckled.

Cal hit his head with his palm. Vance glanced at him and smiled.

Carol was watching this whole thing with a mysterious glint in her eyes. She smiled to herself. She clapped her hands that made the three look at her. "Well! We better be going. The kids haven't been out for a while. Let's go!" She annouced.

Twenty minutes later, everyone was in their swimming suits, Cal borrowed Gillian's brother's, and were headed off to the swimming pool. The kids, along with Cal, were crowded in Vance's Hummer and the other two adults were riding in Carol's minny van.

"Cal seems like a nice man." Carol said to Gillian as they rode. The swimming pool wasn't far.

"Hm?" Gillian glanced at her. She was texting Cal. "Yea. He's great."

"Are you two close friends?"

"Yea. Well we met at the Pentagon." She knew her mom would be curious. It was a long time that they've had a mother-daughter talk.

"That's great. So what's this buisness you came here for?" Her granddaughter was alot like her.

"Oh." Gillian tried to make up something. "It...there's this um guy that we were supposed to interview and we had to come here because he's here."

Carol nodded and was quiet for a while. "You need a guy that works at the Pentagon too?"

Gillian looked at her confused. "Vance." her mom said.

Gillian made an 'o' shape. "Well he wanted to help."

Carol nodded. "I didn't know all you guys were coming at the same time." she said quietly.

"What do you mean?"

Carol sighed. "You know the realationship between your father and Vance. I thought he was coming tomorrow."

"What does that have to do with anything right now." Gillian was the curious one now.

"Well," Carol took in a breath, "You father is at the pool right now. Along with Danny and Em."

Gillian looked at her surpried. "What?" She knew about Vance and her dad's fight. Almost most of the town knew. After all...it was a small town. Her father was the head sheriff at the town and had been since he was 40.

"I don't know how he'll react when he see's Vance." she said mostly to herself.

-X-

"I want you wish you a Merry little Christmas!" The kids roared from the back. Cal cringed at the sound. He glanced and Vance and saw him do the same.

"Guys what with the Christmas songs in the middle of Spring?" he almost yelled.

"Our music teacher says we always have to be cheerful." Brian replied.

"I'm going to have a word with that teacher." Vance muttered under his breath. Cal laughed although Vance was as serious as a murderer.

The kids continued singing and it hadn't even been 2 minutes into driving. Cal got a text from Gililan, smiling he started to text Gillian. Soon, she made an excuse that her mom was talking to her and she couldn't concentrate and they said bye. Brian must have gottan tired because he stopped but Sarah had an energy like a lion.

Vance tried to keep his eyes on the wheel. "So," Cal looked at him, "you guys never told me in the first place why your working on the John DeGrow case." He truly wanted to know.

Cal thought about what he should say. "Well, we kind of got a notice from Germone."

"You know Germone?" He asked.

"Yea. He was my boss 4 years ago."

"But Germone worked at the Pentagon 4 years ago...you worked at the Pentagon?" He stared at Cal, surprise writen all over his face.

Cal looked down. "Well for a while. I met Gillian there." He coughed.

"Oh. That's cool. You guys like partners back then too?"

"Nah. Actually she was my pyschologist." Cal stated.

Vance smiled. "So you _were _a maniac."

Cal tried to put on a hurt face but it came out as a smile. "Yes. Yes I was."

A few minutes later, they arrived at the swimming pool. It looked like a perfect place for family. There wasn't anyone there but there was a car.

"Hm...Danny and Em must be here." Cal heard Vance murmmer.

They got out and Cal saw Carol's car park. Gillian got out and stretched. Cal started at her longingly. Vance tapped him on the back. He twirled around. "Cmon." He pointed to the kids running like a cheetah to the pool. "We wouldn't want them to drown right?" Cal smiled. He met Gillian at the gate of the swimming pool.

"I see you and Vance got alot closer." She teased.

Cal grinned. "I just wished I knew what he would say if I told him the truth." He ended the sentence with a frown.

The gate opened and the kids ran passed Cal and Gillian and went over to the benches to take off their clothes. "You shouldn't worry about that Cal." She gave him a conforting smile. They walked over to the other side. Cal put his cell phone and wallet in Gillian's bag. Carol came in after a few seconds and started putting on sunscreen to the kids, who didn't want to.

"You'll get sun burnt." She warned them. Vance came in and dumped the three bags on one of the benches. He stretched. Gillian didn't say anything about her dad that might come. She didn't get a time to. Her brother, Danny, came storming in. He was tall. And slender. He looked like he worked out at the gym. The two kids got away from their grandmother and ran to him.

"Dad!" Brian cried. "Guess what!"

Danny laughed. "What is it?"

Brian pointed towards the bench. "Uncle Vance and Aunt Gillian is here!"

Danny looked up. Vance waved. He waved back. Danny ran over to him and gave him a big hug. He had the goofiest smile on his face while he ruffled Vance's hair as if he was 3. "Vance! Dude I missed you!" He exclaimed. He looked passed him and saw Gillian, who smiled.

He hugged her too, she hugged back. He kept her at arm length and studied her face. "You look tired, Gilly." He smirked.

Gillian brushed his hands away with a grin. Danny glanced at Cal. "And this is...?"

Sarah came bouncing up to Cal. She grabbed his hand. "This is Cal. Aunt Gillian's partner." She explained.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Danny. Gillian's brother." He shook hands with Cal.

"Gillian's partner, Cal Lightman." He introduced himself.

Danny started talking with Cal and Vance while Carol and Gilian prepared for their barbaque outside. The kids were playing in the pool.

"So Vance, what brings you here?" Danny asked.

"Work." He anwsered.

"Oh. What about you Cal?"

Cal looked at Danny. "Well work too."

Danny nodded. "So Cal you came here with my sister. What happened to Alec?"

Cal hesitated before answering. Honestly, He didn't know what to say. "Well he went on a buisness trip and we had a case near here."

"That's nice." He took a drink from his water bottle.

-x-

"They seem to be having fun." Carol said as she watched the three men talking.

Gillian looked at them and smiled. Cal really seemed to be fitting in with the family. Sarah seemed to like him the most. The problem was her dad. She didn't know how he would react to the fact that she brought another man to the house.

"Mom, when's dad coming?" She asked as she put down the plates on the table.

Carol put down the rest of the cups and looked at her wristwatch. "He should be here in a couple of minutes."

Carol and Gillian got out a couple of cold drinks and put it on the table. "So Gillian...do you like him?"

Gillian looked up for half a second. She knew what her mom was talking about. "We're friends, mom."

Carol stopped with what she was doing. "Gillian I know you think of him as more than just a friend. I'll admit, I don't like Alec. But your father does. And Cal seems like a great guy, you won't want to loose him, hon."

"Mom we're friends. And everythings fine with Alec. Why do you always asume that somethings wrong?"

"Because honey, your never together. I mean, he's always at work, your always at work, no one is home and you guys barely see eachother."

Gillian also stopped. "We're just busy is all."

They stared at eachother in the eye. Carol could read Gillian like a book. It was a long time since she's seen her daughter look at another man with love in her eyes. And that man was Cal. She's seen Gillian with Alec, alot of times. Gillian just always smiled when she was with Cal. It was a totally different side of Gillian.

Carol opened her mouth to say something but was interupted by her grandchildren.

"Grandpa Greg!"

-x-

They were talking about work when he heard Brian and Sarah shout, "Grandpa Greg!"

Vance turned around and stared at him. Sheriff Gregory Anderson was standing there, in uniform and a very stern face, that softened when he hugged his grandchildren. He gave Gillian a smile and Carol and Danny, but he didn't see either Cal or Vance until, "Grandpa look!" it was Sarah. She pointed to Vance. "Uncle's here!"

Greg turned to where she was pointing and his smile dissapeared, replaced by the stern face. "Vance." he said.

Vnace nodded at him and tried to smile. "Greg."

"What are you doing here." It wasn't a question. Cal saw the sadness flash across Greg's face but didn't comment. Cal wondered why they would be so cold to eachother.

Carol stepped in. "Oh Greg don't be so mean. He came for a visit!" She put an arm around his shoulder.

Greg and Vance glared at eachother for a while. The kids became quiet and Cal shifted uncomfortably.

"Dad, this is Cal." Danny said gesturing to Cal, getting Vance out of the kill zone for a while. "He's Gill's partner and they came here for a case."

Greg turned his gaze to Cal. Cal saw Vance turning away with a set jaw out of the corner of his eyes. Greg shook Cal's hand._ He _seemed to be studying _Cal. _

"Nice to meet you, sir." Cal said in the politest manner.

"Your Cal Lightman? The one that always gives my Gillian a hard time?" He asked with a cold odd stare.

Cal had no idea what he was talking about. Sure he did yell at her sometimes but that's how their comlicated relationship went. Gillian had no idea what he meant either. But she would have bet a million dollars that Alec told something about Cal to her father.

"Dad." She said in an almost whining voice.

Her dad held up a hand, silencing her. "You be nice to her, understand?" he said, a foot away from Cal's face.

Cal just nodded and curiously looked at Gillian's father. He seemed _very_ protective. Suddenly Greg grinned, a very small grin, and tapped him on the back. "I'm just kidding." he chuckled. "Nice to meet you, Cal."

Cal could have sighed in relief. He was afraid he was some kind of distraction to the family. A minute later, they were all sitting by the table a distance away from the swimming pool. The sun was slowly setting and the lamps had turned on. Carol had purposely put Vance right in front of Greg, despite both thier protests. Cal sat next to Greg and Danny on the other side. Carol sat next to Vance and the kids sat next to her. Gillian sat on the other side of Vance, and in front of Cal.

They ate in silence for a while until Greg brok the silence. "So Gill, what are you and Cal doing here?"

"Work. Cal, Vance, and I are supposed to be interviewing this guy that's supposed to be here." Gillian said.

Greg nodded. He took a bite out of his meat and looked up at Vance who was picking at his meal. "Your working with them? Why would they need an FBI agent on a case." Almost everyone surrounding the table looked surprised. Greg barley started the talk with Vance nowadays.

Without looking up from his plate, Vance replied, "Personal reasons."

"And what would the 'personal reasons' be?" He pushed.

Cal bit the bottom of his lips. He saw Vance tightening his grip on his fork and knife. His hand trembled a little and he lowered his head more. "It's personal for a reason." He could barely see his lips move.

Greg sighed and continued eating. Carol looked around the table. "So Vance, are you going to college now?" She asked, trying to lighten the mood a bit.

Vance shook his head. Greg looked up. "Speak, boy. It's rude to not talk to an elder."

Vance glared at him. "No I'm not. Too busy." he said, talking to Carol but keeping his eyes on Greg.

Brian and Sarah stopped laughing and giggling when they heard the two adults. They looked at eachother and stayed silent. Carol, not wanting to take this any further, whispered to the kids something.

Thier face lit up with bright smiles and they jumped off their seats. They tugged at Vance's jacket. He turned around and the kids said, "Uncle let's go to the pool!"

"Guys it's late." Vance said. They put on thier puppy dog faces. Gillian saw her dad glancing up to see him. Vance took a peek at Carol and she gave him a small smile. "I'm but only for a couple of minutes." he said to them with a tired smile. He got off and walked over to the pool with the kids surrounding him.

As soon as he was out of ear shock, Carol turned to her husband. "What in the world is the matter with you!" she basically yelled. "It's not his fault. He's just a kid! In fact, it might just be your fault that you guys are like this!"

"How?" he argued back.

"If you hadn't taken that other boys side, it wouldn't have been like this!" Carol shook her hand in a random gesture.

"Mom..." Danny said, trying to warn her not to go very far.

Cal was getting very curious now. What had Greg done?

"You know he's very sensitive, Greg." her voice softened a bit. "Go and apologize for this whole misunderstanding."

"I'll apoligize when he does." He said arrogantly.

Carol sighed in defeat. Gillian looked at her mother and back where Vance, Brian, and Sarah were swimming at.

A couple of minutes of silence later, they decided to go back to the house and rest for the night.

* * *

Back at the house, all of them went to their seperate ways. Cal sat at his bed, fidgiting with his cellphone. He wanted to go to Vance and talk with him, but just going there without any purpose would seem kind of weird. He could make up some excusse like 'Hey I can't seem to find my pencil. Mind if I borrow one?' But that would be to fishy. Or he could just ask about the case...that seemed the best idea.

Cal got up and nervously went over. He hesitated before knocking on the door.

"Yea?"

Cal opened the door and looked through. Vance sat at his old desk with his head in his arms. He looked up as he saw Cal. "Any clues on where Evan might be?" Cal asked.

Vance shook his head. "I have to go around the elementary school tomorrow. A teacher there saw him. Wanna come?"

"Sure." Cal studied Vance's face. "What's bothering you?"

"Your really good at readin people arn't you?" Vance said with his eyes still closed.

Cal chuckled. "I guess you could say that." He closed the door and sat down on his bed. "What's goin on, Vance? You feeling ok?"

"I'm feeling fantastic."

"C'mon, even a dog would know that your not." Cal said quietly. He wanted his son to be able to trust him. Even if he didn't no that he was his father. Cal wanted to be at least friends with him if not less.

Vance turned around and faced him. "Everythings fine, Lightman." He looked away.

Cal stayed silent for a while. "Is the thing with Greg bothering you?"

He sighed. "Yea."

Cal shifted. That was a start. "You mind telling me about it?"

Vance looked at him. "Did you and Gillian change jobs?"

"Unfortunatly, no." Cal said, with a hint of a smile.

Vance hesitated. "Greg and I had a fight a while ago. Didn't end well."

Cal nodded. He wasn't very good at these things but if it meant helping his son that had been suffering for the past years, it was worth it. "What happened?"

Vance slowly looked up, his eyes were full of sadness. "I just came to visit him and Carol but this old bully since elememtary school, Brandon, showed up. We got into a fight. The guy said that the reason I don't have parents is because I wasn't good enought for them. I know I should have ignored it like I always do but I just snapped. And when the police came, Greg...he didn't believe me. He didn't even listen to my side of the story. He just ignored me completely." He looked at his hands and shook his head. "Then I had a fight with Greg. He got upset, said something to me...and I just left the house and got on the first plane back to L.A."

Cal continued to listen. He almost wanted to hurt the Brandon kid as much as Vance did now. "Did you too talk you eachother since?"

Vance shook his head. "No. I haven't even talked about him. Carson wanted me to tell him what happened but I didn't."

Cal nodded in understanding. He didn't want to push it but he needed to know all of what happened. "What did...Greg say to you that made you run?" He knew he was pushing it.

Vance didn't answer right away. But when he did, Cal could hear the hint of anger in it. "He said I ws an orphan for a reason. That because of that kind of behavior, my parents kicked me out." Vance laughed a humorless laugh.

Cal couldn't bear himself to look at him. He felt more guilty than he had before. Cal wanted to die himself. He wanted Vance to know that that wasn't the reason that he was put under foster care. He wanted him to know that he wasn't a piece of shit.

"Vance," he looked up, "it's not the end of the world when people say that kind of stuff. Sure it may hurt, but after a while, you reconnect with that person and be friends again." He rubbed his hands together. "I'm not really good at this shrink crap n all but I've been in the same situation as you before. I never ever talked to that friend again but that was one huge mistake. Cause that friend, died of a car accident a month after that." Cal stood up and patted Vance on the shoulder. "Just...talk to him." He turned to leave.

As he opened the door, Vance said, "Thanks." Cal turned around. "That was the first time in years anyone said anything like that to me."

Cal smiled. "Anytime."

**Did ya like it?**

**R/R!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Hi guys... sorry for the long wait. I just couldn't think of anything... oh and for those who don't know or just forget the names, here they are**

***Cal Lightman**

***Gillian Foster**

***Alec Foster**

***Ben Reynolds**

**Vance Pierce**

***Eli Loker**

***Ria Torres**

**John Carson**

**Carol Anderson**

**Gregory Anderson**

**Danny Anderson**

**Em Anderson**

**Brian Anderson**

**Sarah Anderson**

**Sean Allsop**

**Germone Johnson**

**John DeGrow**

**Evan DeGrow**

**the names with * are the ones alrdy from the tv show. all the names with nothing are the ones i made up.**

The next day was very busy. The fisrt one out was Greg. Then Brain and Sarah along with Danny. And then Vance, Cal, and Gillian. They rode untill they saw a sign that said "Donning Elementary" and a school behind it. They all got out and Vance went into office.

"Hi name's Vance Pierce. I came here to see Mr. Macenzy." He said to the lady behind the desk.

"I'm sorry but Mr. Macenzy is now a proffesor at Hansol College." She said. "He moved there just last week.

Vance nodded. Hansol college was the new college that they had built for this town. About 10 to 15 minutes outside of the town. "Well thank you."

She nodded. Vance went outside to where Gillian and Cal were waiting. "So?" Cal asked.

"He's a porffesor at the college now. I guess we have to go there."

-x-

The college wasm't huge but it was big. There was a fountain in the middle of the school and classes all around it. The dorms were around the outisde of it, although most kids didn't need dorms, some chose to live there. The garden was perfectly cut, some kids were taking a stroll or some were playing football. The walked into the main office. A few people were running around carrying papers, some were talking on the phone, others were writing down something. Vance went forward and faced the receptionist.

He took out his badge and showed it to her. "FBI. I need to talk to Professor Matt Macenzy."

The woman eyed him suspiciously. "Mr. Macenzy's in his room giving a lecture. If it's not important I suggest you wait."

"It is important." Gillian said from the back.

The woman sighed, wrote something down on a piece of paper and handed it to Vance. "That's his room number."

They thanked her and went out. Vance looked at the piece of paper. "Room B13." They walked all around the campus before spotting it. They went up, down, through, and all over. It was at the second building on the second floor. Vance opened the door and peered through. The room was very big. Almost all the seats were filled. At the front of the room, in front of the white board and desk, stood Proffesor Macenzy, giving his lecture and turning around to face the door as it closed with a click.

"Can I help you..." He asked the three.

Vance flashed his badge, and said, "We need to speak to you. It's urgent."

Mr. Macenzy looked over them, his eyes widened and said, "Vance?"

He didn't say anything about that. "Sir, this is government matter. Now can we speak in private?"

"Sure sure." He turned to the class. "Class dismissed early. Review your notes for tomorrow's test."

One by one everyone left, looking at them awkwardly as they passed them to get out. One girl in particular but Vance didn't notice her. After the room was clear, Professor Macenzy said, "Well? How are you doing! And Gillian it's nice to see you too."

Gillian smiled. "It's great to see you too."

"Vance, what is it you need? My god you've grown."

"We need to talk to you about who you said you saw a couple of days ago."

"Evan DeGrow?"

Vance nodded. "Where was it you saw him?"

Mr. Macenzy thought for a second, his eyebrows furrowed in a frown. "Right in front of Fast Diner's. He was walking out."

"Was he alone?" Cal asked from the back.

Mr. Macenzy shook his head. "He was with another man. African American. It was the first time I ever saw him here so I was going to say hi but they were gone the the time I reached the Diner."

"Wait...have you ever seen Evan before here?" Vance asked, a little nervous.

"Yes. He was helping out at the school before he quit. Never knew why. And so when I heard the news about him being a mass murderer I wasn't sure weather to call or not."

"So...how long has he been here?"

"Only for bout a week. But he looks like a nice guy."

Vance stayed silent throughout the information. "Let's go to Fast Diner's."

Cal and Gillian nodded. "Thanks for the info. It was great help." Vance told him. He turned to leave when Mr. Macenzy spoke up.

"Vance, you never told me you worked with the FBI. Your supposed to be in college aren't you?"

Vance turned his head to the side. "It's a part time job. Of course I go to college." He turned around and smiled.

Mr. Macenzy smiled back and nodded. They went out and walked passed where the lunch benches were. There were a few kids sitting down and doing there homework, hurriedly. Probably at the last minute. They walked passed the fountain. "So Fast Diner's first?" Gillian asked.

"Yea. We'll get some information from there."

"Mr. Macenzy was your teacher wasn't he?" Cal said unexceptionably.

Vance glanced at him and nodded. "How'd you know?"

Cal shrugged. "Wild guess." Vance chuckled, it was great to see him laugh.

"So...Fast's Diner's just 5 minutes away from the elementary school-" Vance was saying when someone bumped into him. She was a girl and she looked in a hurry to get to her next class. Her books flew out of her hand and collided on the floor. Vance's I.D card for the FBI hit the ground as well. But he was to distracted to notice.

"I'm sorry. I'm in a hurry and didn't see where I was going." the girl apologized, her speech hurried.

"It's ok. It happens." Vance replied, picking up her book and handing it to her. She was done with her stash that came down in front of her.

"Thanks." She noticed the I.D. card and froze for a minute. She stared at it for the longest time ever. Cal and Gillian were confused and looked at the girl. Vance too stared at her but with a different glint in his eyes. He cocked his head to the side to get a look at her face but her hair covered it. She noticed him looking and turned away. She handed him his I.D. card, mumbled another thanks, got up, and jogged away.

Vance got up and stared at where she had run. "You know her?" Gillian asked.

Vance shook his head. "I don't think I've seen her." He was telling the truth although he seemed troubled that he didn't know who she was.

"Let's go."

-x-

She hurried with her loose papers and shoved them in her backpack, in a hurry go at least get out of sight. As soon as she turned the corner, she sighed and slumped down on the floor. He was here? Why? And what was with the FBI card? Did he work there? No, of course not...he's supposed to be in college, like she is right now! She was confused more than she had every been in her life. She was sure he hadn't seen her. She thought for a while more until she realized she was supposed to be in class. Then she ran like hell to her next period.

-x-

They parked in front of the restaurant and went in. It was a small resturant, a family resturant. A couple of familys were sitting at the tables, smiling and chatting and having the time of their lives.

A waiter came up to them and smiled. "Seat for three?" he asked them.

"No actually," Vance took out a picture of Evan and showed it to the waiter, "have you seen this man?"

Cal saw a microexpression of fear from the young man. "N-no."

"You sure?" Cal ased with his uncomfortable stare.

The boy nodded. He was starting to stutter. "W-why is it that you ask?"

Cal stared at him some more, then grinned to himself. "Oh well he's an old frend."

The waiter nodded, nervously. "So you've never ever seen this man." Vance recited as he shoved the photo towards the waiter.

He shook his head again.

"Gillian!" A man said as he turned the corner with his hands raised up. He was a plump man...His name tag told them that he was the head chef. As he walked over to them, Vance put the photo away.

They hugged. "Gillian how are you doing? I haven't seen you in years!"

Gillian replied by smiling. "It's great to see you too, Darrel. I didn't know you still worked here."

"Haha well I love this place." He saw Vance and Cal. He streched his large hand out to Cal who shook it. "Nice to meet you..."

"Cal."

"Cal." He turned to Vance and pointed a finger in front of his face. "And you mister, the last time I saw you was when you ran away from your job here." He was a few inches away from Vance's face.

Vance grimaced. "Well you can't blame me for not wanting to cut fish all day."

Darrel ruffled his hair and said, "So what brings you here." At this point, the young waiter was turning to go.

"Not so fast." Vance told him. He grabbed the waiter by the collar and dragged him back to where they were standing. "Your staying right here."

"Why do you need Com for?" Darrel asked. He pointed towards the waiter, whose name was apparently Com.

"I need to know if you saw this man here Darrel." He took out the picture of Evan.

Darrel rubbed his chin, thinking. "Yes I have. In fact Com was his waitor."

Cal tilted his head to the side and looked at Com, who looked to the ground. "So you did see this man. Why did you lie." Cal stated instead of asking.

When the boy didn't answer, Darrel asked, "What's going on?"

Vance took out his badge and said, "FBI investigation. This guy," He pointed towards Com, "saw a crimial on loose." He looked at him. "And I would like to know why he lied."

The guy stayed silent. Gillian sighed from besides Cal. "Listen...Com, if you tell us why you lied, then we'll leave you alone."

Cal looked at Gillian. They weren't going to leave him alone. And I guess Com knew that. "No. I'm not an idiot."

Vance sighed. He looked around and a few family's were staring at them. He tugged Com's collar. "Let's go outside. We're causing a commotion."

Vance pulled him and opened the door but right when he did, Com punched Vance in the jaw and spun out of his reach and started running of to the other end of the street. Vance shook the pain away and started running after him. Cal followed, but in a different path. He told Gillian to stay with Darrel until they got back.

Vance ran on right behind Com, who threw things behind him as if they were softballs. Vance dodged every single one. Vance jumped over a car, climbed a fence, hopped down from a two story building, and ran like hell. He was catching up with Com. He was fast. They were closing in to an alley. Com spotted the ladder that went up towards the building. He glanced behind and saw Vance closing in. He took a hold of the ladder and started climbing when someone pulled him down and had him pinned against the hard, cold floor. Lightman had him flat on his back with his head hurting like crazy. Vance arrived and put his hands on his knees, leaning, out of breath. Cal was out of breath too. He was breathing heavily and beads of sweat covered his forehead. Vance soon recovered from the exercise and cuffed Com's hands behind his back.

"You...are...going...to...the cops." Vance barely finished.

* * *

"Happy birthday!" Everyone yelled. Greg didn't like surprises but as he walked into the door, he couldn't help but smile. He looked around at the happy faces. Almost everyone close to him in the town was in the house...but as he scanned the crowd again, he saw some missing faces

-x-

Cal came out of the interview room at the police station. He closed the door and walked up next to Vance, who had his arms crossed and was staring intently at the window of the room. Cal sighed. "He's not talkin'."

Vance nodded. "Maybe he needs time." He sounded unsure of himself.

Cal stared at the window too. Com was slouching on the chair as the officer asked him questions. He picked up his phone as it rang inside his jacket pocket. "Hello?"

"Cal?" Gillian's voice rang from the other line. "Where are you guys? The party already started and Sarah's driving me crazy asking for you!"

Cal laughed quietly. He glanced at Vance and pointed at his watch. Vance nodded. "We'll be there in a minute Luv."

They hung up. "We should come back later or something." Vance told Cal.

Cal nodded as they turned to leave.

-x-

The two walked into the door of the back yard. Sure enough, everyone was already there. Most of the town. Sarah ran out of no where and hugged Cal's leg. Gillian soon followed. She gave him a smile and a quick hug. Sarah smiled at Cal and ran off just as fast as she came.

"You guys are late. Did you get anything from Com?"

Cal shook his head. "He's not talkin."

Vance nodded. He walked off into the house. Cal watched him go. Gillian put a hand on his arms. "You ok?" Cal turned to her and put his arms around Gillian, catching her by surprise.

Cal looked at her for the longest moment with the same expression on his face...love. Gillian, for the first time, looked at him straight in the eyes without moving with the same expression. Gillian slid her hand down so it was intertwined with Cal's. Their lips were a foot apart when suddenly their moment was ruined.

"Gill!" Gillian twirled around so fast, her head was dizzy. Their hands let go and Cal stuffed his hands in his pockets. Walking over to them was Alec, who was supposed to be at a business meeting. As he caught up, he gave her a quick peck on the cheek and smiled. Gillian tried smiling back but it was kind of goofy looking. She was surprised, and so was Cal.

"Alec! W-what are you doing here?" Gillian asked in a more shocked tone then she attended.

Alec raised one eyebrow. "To celebrate Greg's birthday of course! I forgot about it. How stupid of me." He slapped his forehead. He then saw Cal. "Oh...hey Cal."

"Hey." was all Cal said.

Gillian glanced at Cal. He turned and walked away into the house with his head low. She sighed sadly. Alec smiled in triumph secretly. Gillian turned back to him and said, "Alec, I need to talk to some old friends. Do you mind?"

Alec hesitated but nodded eventually. Gillian gave him a quick grin, turned, and almost ran over to the other side of the house, not wanting Alec or anyone to know she was going after Cal. Not that she would have minded if anyone thought that she was in love with _the_ Cal Lightman, but she was married. She ran over and pulled open the back door of the house. Luckily no one was inside. Everyone was outside having the fun of their lives. She walked passed the living room, up the stairs, and came in front of Cal's room. She inhaled deeply. She wasn't sure that this was the right thing. She put her hand over the door nob. Talking to him will be better...right? She put her hand back down. But if she talked to him, maybe she'll somehow become closer to him... She put her hand back on. Alright. I'm going to do this. She turned the door nob and slowly opened the door so he didn't know she was coming in. Cal had his back turned to her and was looking at things on his laptop. He was sitting on the edge of the bed.

"Knock knock." she said quietly.

Cal glanced back. "Hey." He turned back to the computer.

Gillian closed the door behind her and silently walked over to him. She saw that Cal was looking at the office. On the screen, Eli was trying to balance a pencil on his nose. Ria came into the room, hit him on the back of the head and laughed as he yelped in surprise.

"They act like kids." Gillian said laughing softly.

Cal just nodded. Gillian sighed and sat next to him. They sat like that for a while, watching Eli and Ria fight. It was Cal who broke the silence.

"Wouldn't Alec be worried if you stayed this long?" He said with absolutely no emotion on his face.

Gillian didn't answer for a while. "What was that?"

Cal glanced at her. "What was what?"

"When...we almost kissed. Was it a joke?" She wasn't so sure what his emotions were.

Instead of answering, he said, "Did you know Alec was here?"

Gillian looked at him surprised. "N-no! Of course I didn't. How was I supposed to know he was there." She continued to look at him with unbelievable eyes.

"I don't know." Cal said plainly.

"Cal...I really don't know. And I'm sorry. I guess my dad invited him, you know my dad likes Alec." Gillian told him.

Cal kept his eyes on the screen. "You should get back darlin. They'll be looking for you." Cal said silently. He didn't now why but he was cursing Alec for being there. He didn't even know what led him to almost kiss Gillian.

Gillian nodded and stood up. "You come too. I don't want you to miss it." She replied warmly.

"In a few minutes."

Gillian left the door regretfully, leaving Cal in the silent, cold room all by himself.

-x-

Gillian went out of the house. Alec waved her over from the other side of the lawn. He smiled brightly at her. "So, everything alright?"

Gillian smiled at him. She didn't feel like it though. In fact smiling at Alec was the last thing she wanted to do. What she really wanted was to be back upstairs and with Cal. "Yea. Let's go to dad." was all she said before Alec put wrapped his hand around Gillian's, the way Cal and Gillian had, and led her across the lawn. How she wished that it was Cal's hand.

"Hi Carol! Happy birthday Greg!" Alec said with the broadest smile of all. Greg shook Alec's hand and smiled.

"Alec! Nice surprise!" He winked. Alec chuckled. He hugged Carol, who didn't seem that very much happy.

"Nice to see you Alec." She turned to Gillian. "Hon where's Cal? Is he still at the police office?"

Gillian shook her head as Alec passed her a drink. "No, actually he came back. I think he's inside though."

Carol made an 'o' shape. Gillian had a feeling that her mom would like Cal as a son in law. As fast as that odd thought came in her head, she shook it out. "How bout Vance?" Carol asked, pulling Gillian from her thoughts.

Right before Gillian could answer someone said from behind, "Right here." Vance came up from behind, scaring everyone. He gave a quick grin to Greg, mostly trying to ignore Greg's looks. Vance had changed and was now dressed in a plain shirt and jeans. He saw Alec and his eyes lit up brightly. "Alec!"

Alec smiled from ear to ear. "Vance!" They embraced in a bear hug. Gillian knew they were very close. They were almost like brothers...except the age difference. She remembered Cal...what was he going to say if he saw the two like this? Mad? Happy? Sad? She wasn't sure. She watched the two laugh and smiled sadly inwardly. She then saw, from the corner of her eyes, Cal coming out from the door.

Carol, who saw Gillian turn, yelled to Cal to come join them. She screamed it so loud, practically everyone heard her. Even if Cal wanted to avoid them, he didn't really have a choice. Everyone was looking. He took a deep breath and walked over to them. "Hi Carol. Alec." He nodded to him. "Happy birthday Greg." he said a little gloomy. He stood next to Vance and Carol, not wanting Gillian's family to get the wrong idea if he stood next to her. She flashed a micro expression of sadness when she felt him being distant.

"Thank you Cal." Greg replied.

"Cal," Alec started, "you on buisness here?"

Cal nodded. "On a case. With Vance and Gillian."

Alec seemed surprised. "Vance too?" He turned to him. "Really?"

"Yea."

"That's...something new." Alec ran his hand threw his hair.

Cal stared at him with his head tilted a little. All Gillian did as this happen, was stare at Cal. She suddenly realised that she was staring and turned to Alec.

"S-shouldn't you be going? I mean don't you have an important meeting you had to go to?"

"Gillian." Greg answered for Alec. "Don't be rude. I'm sure he has a good explanation why he could come here." Greg scolded.

"Greg's right, Gill. My meetings been postponed till next month or something. I get to spend time here with you!" Alec stated cheerfully with the goofiest smile on his face.

"Oh." Was all Gillian could say. She saw Cal stuffing his hands in his pockets and sighing.

"Em's here!" someone annouced from the back. It was Danny. He was holding a young woman's hand.

"Em! We missed you!" Carol said, hugging her. Cal thought over.

Vance leaned in to him and whispered, "Dan's wife." Cal nodded and thanked him.

"This is Cal." Alec said unexpectedly, surprising Cal. "He's Gillian's partner."

-x-

They all scattered into the house. Greg, Carol, Danny, Em, Gillian, Cal, Alec, Vance, and the kids. It was right after the party. They had a family dinner. Although Cal left uncomfortable and Vance tried to get out of it, Carol made sure everyone was there. It didn't end well though. Greg and Vance still wouldn't talk. It was...silent most of the time with the two. And as everyone left, Greg caught up with Vance who was heading out to his car. "Vance! Hold on!" Greg yelled. He had debated in his head whether or not to talk to Vance. He didn't want to be mad at him forever. Vance was like...a son to him. Or was. It just didn't make sense why he didn't talk to him earlier. He took a deep breath and continued.

Vance turned around sharply, his face stern. "Yea?"

Greg swallowed. He thought about what he had said to him the day Vance left to go back to L.A. and had no call every since. He knew it was wrong, and had no idea why those words came out of his mouth in such rage. The memory wasn't clear at all. But he did remember what he had said and the look on Vance's face afterwards. "Look. What I said...a while back. I didn't mean it. I was just..."

"...pissed?" Vance suggested.

"Yea." Greg looked at him. "I didn't mean it. I really didn't."

Vance thought about what Cal had said the other night, about talking to Greg. He didn't know if talking to Greg would be the best solution ever but he thought he should listen to Cal. He didn't know why...he just did. "I know." was all he said. He turned back around and started walking away to his car.

Greg ran over to him, grabbed his shoulder and turned him around. He stared at him in the eyes. "I'm not an idiot. I know you don't believe me when I say that. But I do." Vance had absolutely no idea why Greg was saying this to him right now.

Vance shook the hand off. "No I don't. I really don't. I don't care anymore alright?" Vance said a little rudely.

Greg shook his head. "I don't know why..."

"You don't know?" Vance asked first. "You don't know why you took Brandon's side without even hearing mine? You don't know why you said those things to me? You don't know!" He said, ending up yelling.

"No I don't!" Greg yelled in a just equal tone. "I really don't know what was going through my head at that point! I just had a bad day at work and when I saw you at the station I- I..."

"You what?"

"I panicked." Greg dropped his head. "I thought I was going to snap at you and say something I'll regret. So I only talked with Brandon. But I guess that ship has sailed."

Vance was silent. Greg looked up, his eyes watering. "You believe me now?" he asked silently.

Vance looked at him. His brows furrowed. "Y-yea..."

"For real?"

"Yea."

Greg hugged Vance. "I'm sorry. I should have listened. I just... I thought that if I didn't talk to you...I wouldn't snap."

Vance laughed humorlessly. "I guess that didn't work."

Greg nodded. "I guess it didn't."

-x-

From above in the house, Carol looked out and smiled at the two. They were back to normal. And from the second floor, Cal watched them too. He smiled but sadly. He sighed and stepped away from the window. Gillian was sitting at the desk and a pencil in her hand and writing. Her frown only increased with each word.

"Why don't you get some rest Luv?"

Gillian looked up and her frown dissapeared. "Hey. You feeling ok?"

Cal nodded. "Alec'll be worried. Better go." Cal smiled the best he could at the moment.

"Cal...I'm sorry."

"Why should you be Luv?"

"I really have no idea that Alec was here." Gillian said with guilt in her voice.

Cal stared at her and pulled her in for a hug. "Would you believe me if I said that I love you?"

Gillian froze. Cal pulled her at an arms length and studied her face. "Well? Would you?"

"I-I...don't know."

Cal nodded. "Well you should know that. As a friend of course." Cal finished with a twist.

Gillian looked disappointed. "Oh." That last part, she wasn't expecting. "Yea. Of course." She smiled.


	10. Chapter 10

**sory for the very late chap. I just have alot ov things going on in my mind right now, one of them being tests and grades. and the other...just social problems. **

**anyways i hope u enjoy this one :)**

"We're free today." Vance told them. Cal and Gillian were crowded around the dinning table with Vance. It was one in the afternoon and the sun was shining like it never had before.

"We are?" Vance nodded. "What about Com?" Gillian asked him. Although she was tired, she wanted to be on the case more.

"The department called. Com hasn't said anything, but as soon as he does, they promised to call right away."

Everyone nodded. "Well, I'm going to go meet an old friend. Call me if you need anything." Vance said.

"Alright." Cal replied. Vance gave them a quick smile and walked away, the click of the door was barely heard.

"So..." Gillian turned to Cal. "what do you want to do?"

He shrugged. "I guess I'll just stay in the room." He turned to go.

Gillian grabbed him by the arm. "Wait. No. That won't be fun. Why don't we go out? Like a stroll in the park?" Cal opened his mouth to say something but Gillian shushed him. "Alec went out to meet _his_ old friends."

Cal thought this over, although he seemed like he was going to say no. "Fine." Gillian smiled a bit. "But only for a little while.

-x-

Once they were in the car, Gillian insisted on having breakfast. So they drove around until they found a decent restaurant and ate there. Afterwards, they went to the park that circled a pond. It seemed like the peaceful place in the town. It was truly beautiful. Few people were walking around, some families, or walking their dog, but most were couples on dates. As soon as Gillian was out of the car, she smiled brightly. It's been a long time since Cal had seen that smile on her and it made him grin.

"It's beautiful." Cal commented, looking at the view of the birds flapping on the water.

Gillian nodded. "I used to come here as a child." She had a faraway look in her eyes. "With my family..."

Cal glanced at her. He then looked to a couple passing by and smiled at them. By the looks of it, they were only in high school. Holding hands seemed to be a fashion here. They smiled back. He looked at his own hands and wondered if he should hold Gillian's. He wanted to ... but if someone saw, what would they think? He wiped his hands, which he noticed were covered in sweat, on his pants.

Gillian smiled at this. Cal honestly looked...like a human being right now, not like a human lie detector. She kept on wondering about the other night. She wasn't able to read him, never was. It was just...strange. Somehow she sensed that Cal was wondering if he should or not hold her hands, she reached out and held his. They were extremely warm. She knew she was passing the line by a mile but something made her do it. She didn't realize it until Cal looked at her a little shocked. She gave him a weak smile. "No ones watching." She whispered, trying for an excuse.

Cal smiled back, a genuine smile. They started walking and they looked like an ordinary couple who were out for a stroll. Cal, who was nervous and didn't know why, put his other hand in his pocket and every few minutes, he would glance at Gillian. Then Gillian would glance back and grin. They started talking about work and for a few minutes, they slowly started to swing their hand up and down like a college couple.

"And remember the time when Ria threw the pie at Eli?" Gillian said, with an uncontrollable laughter.

Cal continued to laugh. "Loker got so pissed at her." He started shaking his head.

Their laughter seized. Cal led her to a nearby bench and sat down. They soon got to talking again. With laughter, sadness, and just plain chat.

Gillian was still wondering about yesterday's night. He had been just an inch away. So close, she could sense his breathing. She wondered and wondered. That night, when she went back to her room, Alec was sleeping already. She had went into the bathroom and sat on the floor, clearly confused about what had happened. She sat there for a while until Alec came in and stated that it was three in the morning.

She barely noticed Cal's hand waving in front of her. She snapped her heads towards him.

Cal sighed. He laid a hand on her leg and drummed his fingers. For a minute he didn't say anything, just stared at his hand. He then looked up. There was an odd look in his eyes. "Gil, luv, what are we doing?"

Gillian didn't answer right away, tried to ignore the question in fact. She looked away and watched a family playing near the pond. But Cal continued to stare at her. He knew she was trying to ignore the question, he could read her like an open book. Gillian glanced down.

"I don't know Cal. I don't really know." she answered truthfully.

Cal sighed, patted her leg once more and stood up. "Well then," Gillian stared at him with confusion, "think we should be going now. Your mum will be wonderin where we are."

Gillian smiled. Cal reached out a hand to her and she took it. They started walking back to the car. Gillian, who was dieing to know what happened last night, burst into speech. "Cal." He turned around.

"Yes darlin?"

She gulped. "What was...last night all about." she asked directly.

Cal stopped walking. In truth he really didn't know what had happened last night. He was completely out of it. From what he remembered, he had had his lips very close to Gillian's and she didn't slap him.

"I..." Cal tried to make something up, stuttering on the way. "Well...you see...I...I was out of it really. I mean, I had a few drinks at the dinner table." He finished with a sweat.

Gillian knew something was up. Cal Lightman did not stutter or sound nervous at all. But she just nodded and Cal sighed in relief.

-x-

"Josh!" Vance hugged his old friend. He had grown...well he was going to college now.

"Vance! Mate where on earth have you been! You haven't been answering my calls!" He said, putting on a hurt face. Although Josh was American, he liked to tease Vance pretending to be English.

Vance laughed full heartily. "Work." He playfully hit Josh on the shoulder. "How have you been?"

"S' been great around here." They were at the college, outside where the fountain was. They sat down. Only a couple of kids where roaming around the place. It seemed deserted.

"Bout you?"

"Great, great." Vance said.

"So," Josh started, "what brings you back here?"

"Well I kinda have a case to work on. I'm gunna go back in a few days though."

"Oh." Josh sounded disappointed.

Vance nodded, hating to ruin the mood. "Does uh...does Amy go here?" he asked gesturing behind them.

Josh knew everything about the two. He knew how it started, and how it ended. And she _did_ go here. In fact, they had a couple of classes together. But the thing was, she had a boyfriend...and his name was Brandon. The guy that supposedly broke Amy and Vance up. He didn't know how to answer but he answered truthfully, being his friend for a long time. "Yea...she does."

Vance just nodded. Just then his phone decided to ring. Looking at the caller ID, it was Carol. "Ya?" he said as he answered. "Uh huh...right...ok I'll be right there." He got up. "Listen, mate, I gotta go."

Josh scoffed and smiled. "Well good luck and be nice to the kids."

"You know I am." he smiled back, already on his way to the car. "See yah later!"

-x-

"PLEASE!"

"Sorry, I'm just too tired."

Cal tried reasoning. Sarah was pulling at his arm, digging her heel into the dirt and pushing. Gillian was behind Sarah, who was in shorts and a shirt. Behind all of them, at the far side of the field, was Brian. He was bouncing around a soccer ball on his knees and feet. While Sarah was squirming around Cal, Gillian got up from the bench and went over to Brian. She noticed that Brian and Cal didn't talk much if not at all.

"Hey Brian." Gillian said, a few steps away.

"Hi." Brian just continued with his soccer ball without looking up. He soon kicked the ball over to her. She passed it back and was thankful that she wasn't wearing a dress. She could still hear Sarah from the back, and Cal continuing to refuse.

When she got the ball, she paused. "Brian why don't you go help your sister? Cal needs to be more active."

Brian kicked the ball from her. He continued to bounce it on his head, knee and foot. "She can handle it."

Gillian didn't hear any anger or anything in his voice. "Brian don't you like Cal?"

Brian snapped his head up. "Of course I do!" he exclaimed.

"You guys haven't really talked to each other much."

Brian looked away. Gillian just barely saw the hint of fear in his eyes and had to wonder why. "Brian is there...is there something bothering you?"

He swalloed, didn't really answered. He gazed away. "A-Aliec," he stuttered, "told me something a while ago...about Dr. Lightman..."

Gillian tilted her head to the side a little. Alec? Why would he do... "What did he say?"

"He told me not to tell anyone..."

"Oh c'mon. For your favorite aunt?" Gillian bent down so she was the same hieght as him.

He swallowed. "He said that... can't be trusted or something. That if you lie too him he'll do something to you..."

"What?" Gillian said wide eyed. Alec said that? When? Why?

"Please don't tell him I told you. He told me not to say anything! That it was a seceret!" Brian begged.

"Y-yea ok of course I won't" She hugged him. She pulled away and looked at him in the eyes. "Brian Alec was just joking." He had confusement written all over him. "You see, Alec and were playing a game where we try to make fun...of peoplewe know." Her sentence ended like question to herself. But the look on his face told her that he wasn't that scared anymore.

She looked around and saw Cal, walking over to them, along with Sarah right at his heels. "He's on my team!" she exclaimed with the biggest smile on her face.

Cal looked at Gillian. This was going to be a long day.

-x-

"Hey Carol." Vance greeted as he closed the door behind him. The house was quiet since everyone still had left.

Carol showed up, turning the corner, and gave Vance a short hug. "Guess what?" she asked suddenly.

Vance, who was confused, answered, "What?"

"Guess."

"Uh..."

"We're going to Las Vegas!" she exclaimed, to excited for him to answer.

"What!" Vance said, with eyes wide and brain stopping the thinking for a minute.

"I thought that maybe everyone could have a break since the whole family's here and you and Greg are back to normal." she said as she walked past him to put down some plates for the dining table.

Vance stood there for a moment, his feet plastered to the floor, when he noticed that he'd been like that for a while. He shook his head. "But...Gillian, Cal, and I are on a case!" he said as he walked up to Carol and moving behind her.

"You guys could take a two day break." she said if stating the simplest thing in the world.

Vance stood there, hand in the in the air and jaw slightly open. Brian would have laughed on the floor at this.

"This is an important case." he replied suddenly thinking of Cal. Especially because Gillian looked at him as if she was in love with him sometimes, when she thought no one was looking. Vance knew something was going on between the two and it wasn't just friendship. And she had a different look in her eyes as she looked at Alec...Vance liked Alec, maybe a little more than Cal. Well he had known him longer. Alec sometimes told him about things like 'accidently' flirting with another girl when he was around or just happened to wake up on the other side of bed of a gorgeous woman who wasn't Gillian. He had made it clear not to say any of this to anyone. He knew he should at least tell Carol or something but Gillian was a lie detector so he thought she would catch Alec in th midst of his lies. Vance didn't like keeping secrets like these because he knew it was wrong.

"I'm sure the case can wait." Carol put down the last plate and moved on to glasses.

"No. We are not going." He replied sternly.

Carol sighed. "Vance..."

"This why you called me?"

"Yea."

-x-

All four of them laid on the grass, panting for their breath. They've been running, kicking, sliding for what seemed like eternity. They ate the Subway sandwiches that Cal had brought before they came here with water and soda.

"Wasn't that fun?" Gillian asked Cal.

Cal took a mouthful of his sandwich and nodded. Gillian smiled. Brian joked around with Sarah and got a good screaming too. The four were having a good time...none of them aware of the person watching them.

-x-

Vance didn't know where he was driving to. Just got in the car, started driving. It was a little over 2 now and the sun was high up. It was then that he noticed he was parked in front of the police station. Greg would be in there right now...probably working his brain too hard again. He leaned back and closed his eyes. He had gotten a call from Germone that morning, telling him something and he forgot what it was. He didn't really care. He heard the station door open and Greg came out, full in uniform. Vance got out.

"Oh Vance! What are you doing here?" Greg asked surprised that he would show up with no call.

Vance shrugged. "I got bored."

Greg nodded. He looked at his watch. "I was about to get lunch. You want to come?"

-x-

They were eating at Wendys. It wasn't that crowded, the lunch rush already passed.

"So...anything new?"

"Not really." Vance said. He took a bite out of his sandwhich.

Greg nodded. "About Vegas..."

"Greg I'm sorry but we really need to work on this case."

Greg sighed. "I wasn't gunna tell you this right now but..."

Vance looked at Greg who looked nervous."But what?"

"My office got a call from Evan DeGrow."

"What? What did he say? When did he call you?"

Greg took out a recorder and handed it to him. "It's in there."

Vance anxiously pressed play. The sound of static blurred in his ears as his strained to listen.

_"Sheriff Anderson." Greg's voice said._

_"So nice to hear your voice again."_

_There was a silent clip that lasted long enough._

_"Evan?"_

_"I see you remember me."_

_"Evan where are-"_

_"I know Agent Vance and Dr. Lightman are out to get me. And so is the Bureau. So let's cut the crap. I'm not in your town anymore. In fact I'm having fun in Vegas right now. Don't think you'll ever find me here. Face it, you've lost, I've won. I know your recording this and pretty sure your going to show this to Agent Vance."_

_"Why Evan?"_

_"Why what? Why did I pretend I was someone else? Why I pretended to be nice? Well heres the reason. I needed more information on Dr. Lightman and possibly Dr. Gillian. I know enough about Agent Vance. But the other two...I needed something to use as bait I guess. So I made friends, some nice friends really. I would have hated to hurt them."_

_"Evan, why are you telling me all this?"_

_Evan sighed. "Well your never going to catch me, might as well have all the fun right now."_

There was a click as he hung up. Vance's thoughts were roaming around freely in his brain.

"I got that call in the morning, when I just went in." Greg said from across. He seemed distressed.

Vance nodded. "Greg, we're going to Vegas." They got up to leave. "Oh and don't tell anyone else other than Cal and Gillian about the call. For the others, it's just another family vacation."

* * *

**sorry for the short chatper. I lost my interest in writing or a while :(..but i promise ill update soon :D**

**hope you guys arnt bored :P TYYYY :))**


	11. Chapter 11

**sorry bout the huge delay on the chapter. ive just been going thorugh alot and had no time to right. and if your still with me, then u r AWSOME! lol. well this chapter isn't much but ... idk maybe you'll like it :) hehe well enjoy and review!**

"Alright everyone out!"

The two cars parked in front of a family apartment like hotel near the plaza street Vegas. It was about three minutes away from all the famous hotels that rounded the place. As soon as Cal stepped out, he was hit by the intense heat that surrounded his body. He had drived here in Vance's hummer with Gillian, Alec, and Danny in the car. The other car, Carol's minivan, was filled with loud children and thier grandparents. Emily decided it was best for hewr to stay and take care of the house. As everyone got out, Vance and Alec went into the first building, where you check in.

Gillian stretched . She was in jeans and a green shirt. As soon as they got a room, she was going to change. Cal, who was also had on long pants and even a long sleeve, was helping Danny with the luggage. Brian and Sarah decided to play tag in the hot weather. Now that she thought about it, she and Cal were the only ones who were dressed like this. She felt extrememly idiotic. She had been to Vegas but it was a while ago and she had forgotten and taken advantage of it. Now she was here, toasting in Vegas. She looked to Cal to see if he was feeling the same way and found out that he was. He saw sweating from head to toe. His forehead was beaded in strands of sweat. Alec and Vance came back with four room keys.

-x-

Gillian looked again at her stunning emerald dress that hugged her every curve. She wore her beautiful hair down. A single necklace surrounded her neck and she wore a diamond ring on her hand. The ring was a device to signal a warning to Vance or Cal if she or someone was in trouble, or if she spotted Evan. Her high heels were white and light green and she tried not to stumble in them. She was now in an expensive hotel in the middle of Vegas. the room was big enough for a zoo and she had it all to herself. Of course, Cal had the room next to her with Vance. The three had left the rest of the family back at the family hotel and arrived at their destination. They didn't pack much, so the others won't get suspicious but of course Greg already knew.

Gillian glanced one more time at the mirror, fixed a hair that was out of place, grabbed her purse and went out, locking the room behind her.

-x-

Cal fixed his silver tie. it was the only thing that stood out on his all black suit. He took a deep breath. He twirled a ring on his fingers. Vance and Gillian had the same on, for a warning, Vance had given them this each just in case. Gillian was in her room next door. Vance was already where they were supposed to be, trying to figure some things out. Germone had told him that Evan was spotted in the Venetian hotel casino not a while ago, he they were heading there first. He ran a hand through his hair and walked out.

-x-

Gillian saw his door open before she had a chance to knock. Cal came out in his finest suit. He walked over to her and she was instantly hit by his cologne.

He smiled at her. His breath got caught in his throat. She looked amazing in that dress. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get the thought out of his head.

"You look beautiful, luv." He whispered they started walking. Once in the lobby, they separated. They were supposed to act like they didn't know each other. Cal didn't like the thought but it was his job afterall.

He walked out and closed the door behind her. "Let's get going." He whispered to her.

They walked out together until the parking lot and separated.

-x-

Vance walked around the hotel and casino scanning the area. He was acting as a security guard. He had on a black suit but no tie with an ear piece on his right ear and a ring on his finger. Of course, it didn't work but it got him to the casino without questions. He continued to scan the area for any signs of Cal or Gillian. The casino was packed with people. Tourists, most of all. Some with kids, or some just couples. He sighed as her rounded the whole casino once more and went the the entrance. The entrance was just as crowded as the inside. He walked out and put on his sunglasses and stood like a guard, seeing another security guard doing the same. But he stayed by the entrance, to see if Cal or Gillian arrive. After a while, a black car came, dropped off Cal and went away. As Cal walked in, Vance gave him a nod. Moments later, Gillian came and Vance did the same. She gave him a smile and went in. Now they had to catch Evan...

Vance took a deep breath. "Here we go." he whispered to himself.

-x-

Cal put one hand in his pockets and walked into the casino. He kept a low profile. Last time he'd been to Vegas, he wasted practically all the company's money. He was kind of nervous now that he thought about it. He swallowed hard and sat down at a black jack table near where he stood. He caught sight of a beautiful blonde sitting to his far left but ignored her. She was, however, eyeing him. The dealer set up and the game began.

-x-

She'll admit it, she was scared. Scared that Cal would forget about why they are really here and go gamble off. But she somehow knew that he wouldn't do that. She scanned the crowd and spotted Cal. He was sitting at a black jack table and his head was in the game. She sighed. Then she saw the blonde who was eyeing him and got a weird feeling in her stomach. She looked like someone that Gillian had known. Gillian could also tell that Cal was having trouble trying not to look at her. Maybe it's just jealousy? She shrugged off the feeling and sat down at a table that wasn't filled and pretended to play.

It was about ten minutes into the game and she was doing fairly well. She was kind of enjoying this. She looked up from her cards and looked towards Cal's table and almost whistled. Well he was doing great, she thought. The chip in front of him were piled but he wasn't smiling. Probably to focused, she thought with a smirk.

Just then, a man came in and sat down. He was about 6'2 and slim looking. As he sat down he winked at Gillian and then looked towards to where Cal was, which made her confused. Then it hit her. It was Evan. Evan DeGrow found her. She looked worriedly at Cal's direction and saw, not one, but three security guards walking towards him. She hit the diamond on her finger.

Moments later, Vance came dashing in, having felt the vibration on his finger. He looked towards Gillian and find her jerking her head towards her right then left. He looked and saw Evan...who was staring right back, smiling. He tore his gaze away and saw Cal. But the security guards were closing in on him. So he ran over to Cal first, not wanting to blow his cover. He flashed his fake badge, wanting everyone else on the table to think that he had the upper hand. "Sorry Sir, but your going to have to come with me." Vance stated very clearly. He saw the guards stop.

Cal, who was confused just nodded and got up. Vance nodded at the guards, who went away. Vance took Cal's arm and dragged him to the back room. It was small but big enough to fit at least ten people. It was empty too.

"What is it?" Cal asked first.

When Vance was sure there was nobody outside, he said, "Gillian found Evan."

"What?" was Cal's imediate anwser.

"She's ok though." Vance said in a haste, not wanting Cal to stomp back out there and beat the man into a pulp. What they needed was a plan. "Ok so look. Evan is sitting at the same table as Gill-"

"Is he sitting next to her?"

"No..."

Cal relaxed some and listened to the plan Vance was giving them.

-x-

He walked back out, avoiding security. He came across the table Gillian was at and bumped into a chair of a guy that looked hot tempered. He was chubby in every way possible and was bald. He could tell that he was in no mood to be tampered with but that was what Cal was just looking for. He made eye contact with Gillian as if saying what he was going to say in a blink of an eye and 'accidently' fell forward, knocking the guy off his chair.

The chubby guy, got right back up and before Cal could even open his mouth, he pounced. He punched cal in the stomach and pretty soon, their was a crowd of curious people all around, along with the security. Gillian stood, horrified but before she had a chance to go to him, she was pulled away. As she spun around, she saw Vance.

"Cmon." he said. She soon followed but was in an emotional battle as to whether or not to go back and help Cal. She was pulled to the janitor's closet. "Stay here." Vance said before he was off again. She sighed in frutrastion.

-x-

Right when Cal saw Vance leaving with Gillian safely away from Evan, he started fighting back. Not a second later, a hand shot out and grabbed him and shoved him up. He stared into Vance's eyes which told him to run. He nodded. He ran like hell. He ran out of the hotel with security hot on his heels, rounded the corner, people buzzing by him, and ducked under a truck. the security ran passed him. He walked back to the casino, wiping blood off of him and headed to the janitor's closet, keeping low. He saw the man he was fighting just a minute ago but he didn't see Vance, or Evan. He reached there and went in. Gillian jumped up and hugged him.

"Are you ok? Are you hurt?" she asked.

He laughed and said, "I'm fine."

"What happened back there?"

Cal took a deep breath. "Well...when Vance saw Evan next to you, he told me and well I panicked..." Gillian smiled at this. "So Vance came up with a plan. While I make up a fight and lure all the security away, Vance'll take you and bring you here...Where's Vance though?" Cal thought aloud.

"I don't know he told me to stay here and he went back out."

She wiped some blood from his face. Cal smiled but was starting to wonder where Vance was. He wouldn't go after Evan all alone would he?

"What do you suppose my mom would say if she saw you like this when we go back?" Gillian asked quietly.

"Well," Cal took a deep breath, "I'm not sure. I'll just say I fell or something."

Gillian smiled. Just then, her phone started buzzing from her purse. "Hello? Vance?" Gillian said in a haste. "Hey where are you, Cal's worried si-" She paused. "Oh...ok I'll tell him." SHe hung up the phone.

"Gillian? Was that Vance?"

Gillian shook her head. "Reynolds. He's with Vance right now."

"Reynolds came?" Cal's eyes got wide.

"I guess my dad asked him to."

Cal nodded. "Where are they?"

"Vance is... chasing Evan."

-x-

Around the corner, through the doorway, down the stairs, and jump the top. Vance was running like hell, with Reynolds behind him and Evan right in front. He had no idea that Reynolds had followed them to Vegas but right now, he was more than grateful. The three came to an old building and Evan went straight through. He pointed at Ben to go right and he started left. He took out his gun and aimed it in front of him.

"FBI!" he heard Reynolds shout. Reynolds collided with Evan and wrestled with him until Evan got the upper hand and kneed Reynolds in the stomach, winding him. He got up and ran towards the back.

The door in front of them shut. Vance made eye contact with Reynolds and nodded.

He kicked open the door and almost fell in but caught himself. The door was an old, abandoned elevator shaft. He looked up and down but Evan was no where in sight.

Vance sighed. "He's gone." He ran a frustrated hand through his hair. Reynolds came up from behind him and put a hand on his shoulder.

"It's alright. We'll get him."

-x-

They were back at the hotel. Cal and Gillian were in Cal and Vance's room. Gillian was sitting on the bed while Cal paced back and forth in front of her. They were waiting for Vance and Reynolds to come back.

"Cal, come sit down for a minute. Your making me dizzy."

Cal sighed but sat down. "Do you think their alright?"

"I'm sure they are Cal. I'm sure Reynolds and Vance would come through that door right now unharmed."

As if on cue, the door opened and Reynolds and Vance stormed in. Both didn't look like they've been in a fight but they did look weary.

"Didn't catch him." Vance stated and before anyone could say anything, he walked passed them and went into the kitchen to get a drink of water.

Reynolds stretched. He soon felt Cal's gaze on him and turned towards his boss. "What?"

"When did you come?" It was Gillian who asked, not Cal.

"About 5 hours ago. Greg called me."

Vance came back into the room and tossed Reynolds a bottle of water. "We should get back to the family. We only told them we were going to be gone for a couple of minutes. We can think of a plan there."

**reviiieeewwwww :DDDDDD**


	12. Chapter 12

"Where on earth have you been!" Carol almost yelled at the three as they stood on the doorway of the hotel room. Cal had cleaned up the best he could, although there still was a bruise on his right cheek bone. Reynolds had stayed at the hotel. "And what happened to you!" She said in a motherly tone. She reached up and touched his bruise and Cal winced.

"I fell..." Cal replied sheepishly. Gillian tried to contain her laughter. She had never seen Cal like this before. She was sure that Cal was silently glaring at her.

"Oh my! Do you need anything on it? Does it hurt-"

"I'm fine. Really." Cal said as politely as he could.

Gillian then decided to jump in. "Cmon Cal let's go get that...cleaned up." she told him, her voice filled with giggles.

As much as Cal wanted to keep a straight face, his face made a smile and he retreated into a room with a laughing Gillian in tow.

Carol had a grin on her face. She was glad that her baby girl was happy. She was so caught up watching the two that she forgot that Vance was there. When she turned back, Vance was on his mission to find food. Carol chuckled silently. "Need anything?"

"Huh?" he looked up. "Oh no...where is everyone?"

"There out swimming." Carol pointed to the swimming pool outside.

Vance made a 'O' shape. "Right...I'll talk to Greg later then."

-x-

"Cal stop flinching!" Gillian laughed as she wiped some blood off his neck, which miraculously went pass her mom unnoticed.

Cal smiled despite the pain. It was good to see her laughing. "You know, I think your having to much fun with this." He said motioning to the towel with blood on it.

Gillian shrugged. She dipped the towel in water and set it on Cal's neck again. He hissed at the cold water and Gillian grinned and shook her head. She accidently dropped the towel when trying to put it back up when she noticed Cal wince as it passed his ribs. She looked up and saw his eyes close momentarily. They opened again, a brief second of pain passed but was soon covered with his 'wall of nothingness'.

"Are you ok?" She asked with concern deep in her voice. He nodded.

She reached up and pushed his shirt up. He was quick to grab it and hold it there, not letting her hand get any further.

"Cal, I need to take a look." Her voice was stern but caring.

"I don't...It's not that bad." he tried.

"Then let me see." she pushed.

"When did you become the doctor of the house?" Cal chuckled and joked. He stopped when he saw Gillian's look. He sighed and gave up. "Fine."

He let go of her hand and she pulled it all the way up. Gillian covered her mouth with one hand. "Oh god Cal..."

"Gee thanks, love."

Her heart broke. His chest was filled with multiple bruises, black and purple lined up and formed a group on his ribs. "Cal..." She almost cried. She swallowed and put the shirt back down and met Cal's eyes. "I'm sorry." she whispered.

Cal was a bit confused. "What for love?"

She hugged him. "For making you go through that." She pulled back and met his warm eyes again.

"Gill it's not your fault. I'm the one who pulled you this whole mess with the terrorist in the first place."

Gillian shook her head. "I'm sorry." she whispered again. He pulled her into another hug.

"It's ok. It's not your fault..." He pulled her closer.

Just then, the door opened. They quickly pulled apart, but not before the person saw. Alec stood in the doorway, soaked from head to toe. He had his swimming trunks on and a towel around his neck. He stopped as he saw them sitting awkwardly on the bed, side by side. A bowl of water and a wet towel behind them.

He opened his mouth to speak but Cal beat him to it. "Right well I'll be going now. Alec." He finished with a nod. Cal stood up and walked pass Alec to the living room. As soon as he was out he went straight to his room, which he was sharing with Vance. Vance wasn't there so he closed the door, leaned against it and sighed. That moment between them was the first time in a couple of days that they've came into contact. He shook his head and went to one of the two beds to unpack his things.

-x-

"What the hell was that?" Alec, who had finally shut his jaw and decided to talk, was staring at Gillian in disbelief.

"What was what?" Gillian asked with an innocent look on her face. She got up with the bowl and towel and headed to the bathroom. Alec followed.

"What were you doing with Cal." Alec crossed his arms and blocked the entrance way.

Gillian set down the bowl and towel, turned around and sighed. "He got a couple bruises. I was helping him clean it up," she said, crossing her own arms.

"I don't believe you."

"Really?" She said sarcastically. She made a move past him put he grabbed a hold of her arms. "Let me go."

"No. Not until you tell me what that was all about." He squared his shoulders and stood still.

"I told you already."

"That was a lie."

"Oh now your the lie detector?"

"Tell me the truth."

The door to the bedroom opened. "Guys dinners ready." Greg stood in the doorway, his upper body leaning in and his legs still out of the room. He saw the expression on both their face and Alec's hand and frowned. "Everything alright?"

"Yea." Gillian said. Alec let go of her hand and stood back, rubbing his neck. "We'll be right there dad."

-x-

Carol and Vance were setting the table. The kids were sitting on the couch watching tv. Gillian walked into the kitchen while Alec and Greg went outside to where Danny was.

"Need help with anything?" Gillian asked her mom and Vance.

"Yea sure honey. Can you get the forks from the cabinet?" Carol asked while putting everything else in order. The kitchen smelled delicious.

Gillian nodded. She came back and set the forks on the table too. Vance, meanwhile, got the food from the kitchen and brought it to the table. He took a long sniff. "Ah...smells like thanksgiving all over again."

Everyone smiled. "Vance honey can you get everyone inside?" Carol said still smiling.

"Sure." Vance put down the rest of the food and walked out leaving Carol and Gillian by them selves.

As soon as Vance was out of ear shock, Carol led Gillian back into the kitchen.

"Is everything ok?" she asked, the concern evident in her voice.

"Yea mom. Why?" Gillian was confused in her own ways.

Her mom sighed. "It's just that...I saw Alec going into the room and saw Cal coming out only moments later. He looked sad."

Gillian's eyes dropped. "Yea...Everythings fine." She tried to smile.

Carol put a comforting hand on her daughter's shoulder. "Gill if there's anything I can do...just tell me ok?"

Gillian looked up at her mom. Her face was very concerned and Gillian couldn't help but think of what would of happened if she didn't have her mom. "Thanks mom." Her smile was genuine.

A few minutes later everyone was gathered around the table chatting and eating away. Gillian met Cal's eyes a few times. She tried to tell him something, anything. But right when their eyes were focused on each other, someone somewhere would ask or tell either one of them something.

-x-

"Alright thanks Ben. I'll talk to you later." Cal pressed the end button on his cellphone. He sighed and put the file back down onto the desk.

"Anything new?"

Cal looked up at the voice. Vance came out of the bathroom connected with their room with basketball shorts and a black shirt. His hair was still wet from the shower and was starting to drip onto his shirt. Cal sighed and shook his head. "Nothin so far." He took off his glasses and ran a frustrated hand through his hair.

"Well there's gotta be_ something _that connects us to Evan. I mean it's not like the guys invisible or something." Vance joked, trying to cheer the mood up a bit.

Cal smiled. "No...no he isn't."

Vance exhaled. He looked at the clock. "We got about an hour before we head back out."

The family had planned on sightseeing at night. Vegas was always wonderful when the lights were out. It was like daylight but with led lights on every building the passed.

Cal nodded. His phone buzzed again. "Lightman." He looked up and mouthed 'Reynolds' to a very curious Vance standing in the room who nodded and roamed through the closet. "Really..." Cal got out a pen and started writing. "Alright thanks Ben. Yea I'll see you there. Bye."

"What was that about?" Vance looked up to see Cal digging through his bag until he found his laptop, flipped it open and starting typing away. "Hello?"

Cal held up a finger that intended to mean 'hold on'. Vance shrugged and changed into his jeans.

"Ah hah!" Cal jumped from the bed.

"Ok are you ever going to tell me? I'm kinda gettin confused." Vance asked a little irritated.

Cal flipped the laptop so Vance could see. On the screen was a blue map with a green dot that was constantly moving. "Is that a..."

"Tracking device? Yea." Cal finished for him.

"Who..."

"Evan." He said, beaming.

Vance's eyes got wide. "Evan? But how? Who? When?"

"Ben. He said he managed to stick it on him during the struggle."

"Nice!" Vance grinned wider.

-x-

"Ok we know where Evan is-"

"What are we exactly going to do when we have him?" Cal pitched up from the back seat.

"Question him I guess. We can blackmail DeGrow. If the guy has a heart, then he won't let his brother go to jail for the rest of his life." Reynold's voice came from the phone. "Not to mention, Evan probably knows what his brother's plans are."

Greg was driving, Vance was in the passenger seat, Cal and Gillian in the back seat, and Reynolds on the phone which was on speaker. They were riding in hummer. Danny, the kids, Carol, and Alec were in Carol's mini van and in front of them. They had took off not a minutes before and Greg insisted that the seating were to be like this so the five of them could discuss the case. It was already dark, about 11 at night but the city was busy, busier than New York at Christmas. Alec, at first, tried to get Gillian to ride with him and Carol but Vance had jumped in and said something about having to discuss something important.

Carol still thought that they had put the case on hold and were having a well needed vacation. Greg had felt bad about lying to his wife at first. The two cars drove around for about ten more minutes before they found parking spaces.

"Alright. How do you guys wanna go?" Vance asked. Their plan: to stay in a group of two, just in case they happen to get Evan tonight.

"Gil and me. Cal and you." Greg said. "Everyone alright with that?"

Cal glanced at Gillian. He honestly wanted to be with her but Greg was her dad...and he couldn't really argue with that. "Yea."

Everyone nodded. Vance took in a breath. "Alright. I notified the PD so if you happen to even see a guy that looks like Evan, call it in. Call one of us first though," he said towards Greg who nodded.

"Everyone ready?" They nodded. "Alright. Let's go."

Vance and Greg got out. But before Gillian could open the door, Cal caught her hand. She turned around and met his eyes.

"Be careful." He said genuinely.

Gillian smiled. She fully turned around, leaned in and brushed her lips against his cheek. "You too," she whispered.

Cal gave her one last smile before getting out of the car and putting on his regular poker face he had on. He went around the van to see everyone had been gathered around. He suddenly felt like he was left out. They were family, he wasn't. Vance wasn't blood related to them but he still was their close friend. The only real family he had here was Vance...and he didn't even know it. He sighed and tried to get the thought out of his head. It was his fault. He should of checked to see if his son was really asleep that night.

Gillian seemed to have seen his uneasiness, for he was the only one still next to the rental van. She went over, grabbed his arm, and practically dragged him to the group. She saw Alec stealing a glance at her but she acted as if it was nothing. Cal gave her a smile that warmed her instantly.

Cal watched as Brian and Sarah's eyes eye practically glowing of excitement, Sarah more than her brothers. He couldn't help but chuckle. Suddenly she bounced up and found Cal's hand.

"Is uncle Cal coming with me?" She asked. Cal stared, stunned. She just called her 'uncle'. He was the only one there that seemed surprised though, well beside with Alec.

Danny put his hand on his chest and pretended to be hurt. "What about your dad, Sarah boo?"

Sarah stuck out her tongue and snuggled closer to Cal. "I wanna go with Uncle Cal!" Everyone chuckled, except Alec who seemed to have a very hard time trying to keep a fake smile plastered on his face.

Cal patted her little head. "We're all going together, Sarah."

Sarah looked up and gave him her award-winning smile and hugged him tighter.

"Oh dear I think I've lost a daughter," Danny said, running a hand through his face.

"It's ok. You still have me and Brian, _dad._" Vance said, hugging me in mock attempt. Every one laughed, even Alec.

Cal, meanwhile, was not really laughing. It was weird seeing your own kid calling someone else 'dad'. And secretly, it hurt him. But everyone here seemed so happy...If he even happened to tell Vance who he actually was, he was sure that this family would somehow fall apart... He was taken from his train of thought as a warm hand touched his arm. He looked up to see Gillian.

"You ok?" She whispered.

He swallowed and nodded. His strained smile was back.

"Well then! Let's get going before I loose any of my other _sons_." Danny said.

It was dark and without the street light, it would be impossible to see. Well, in the parking lot. They walked into a very luxurious hotel. Hundreds of tourists roamed about. They took pictures, chatted in all different languages, and laughed. It was a sight. The hotel had main attractions out in the front, next to the lobby and the casino could be seen in the way back. The group roamed around together for a bit before, eventually, splitting up. Greg, Gillian, Brian, Alec, and Danny were visiting one side while Carol, Sarah, Vance, and Cal looked about the other. Carol held Sarah's hand, just in case. They walked ahead and Vance and Cal stayed back.

"I guess you've been here before?" Vance asked suddenly.

"Couple times. Almost ruined the company cause of it though." Cal replied, smiling at the memory.

Vance laughed. "Yea you do seem like you would do that.

Cal grinned. "How did you know?"

Vance glanced at him, confused.

"Bout me bein here before."

"Oh." Vance scratched his head. "Well it's just that you don't really look around much. You know like tourists, they like to get a good eye at everything." Cal nodded. "Yea look I'm sorry if I sound like I'm observing you or somethin." He laughed nervously.

"Nah It's alright. I get used to it, well I observe people everyday. It's my job you know?" Cal winked. "I can say the same thing bout you, you never looked at anything for more than five seconds."

Vance sighed. "Well one of my foster parents lived here."

Cal nodded and looked at him with sympathy. "Sorry."

"It's ok. I got over the fact that I'm an orphan. But now I'm 19 and legally an adult!" He gave him a smile. Cal returned it.

Cal felt terrible right at that moment. He was sure that Vance was hurting inside. He couldn't help but wonder if Vance remembered anything about his father._ Anything. _The guilt was eating away on him. Vance must have seen his expression because he asked, "Hey you ok?"

"Yea..." Sarah bounced away from her grandmother and grabbed Cal's hand and pulled him in front. She held up a dog tag necklace that had the name 'Cal' engraved on it. She handed it to him with a huge smile and he put it on.

"Thank you Sarah." Cal grinned and looked at it. "It's beautiful." Sarah smiled, showing her teeth. Cal turned and looked back to where Vance was standing. He was chuckling and shaking his head. He turned back around facing Sarah. He croughed down so he was about her height and smiled. "Would you like one too, sweetheart?" Cal had always called Emily 'sweetheart' when she was little and he had a wierd sense of de ja vu.

She nodded her head up and down in a haste. "Mhmm!"

Cal looked up to see Carol standing not really far from them. As their eyes met, she pointed to a stand that sold jewelry. "Alright then. Let's go get you one."

-x-

"Can I have that one?" Brian asked shyly.

Danny laughed. His son was pointing to a bracelet with Volcom sign on it. "Yea sure sport."

He payed for it and went out of the open store. he handed it to Brian who grinned from ear to ear and put it on. "It's awsome!"

Dannu chuckled and ruffled his son's hair.

Gillian smiled as she looked at her brother and her nephew. They were so alike in so many ways. But right now, she couldn't of helped but to think of Cal. He was probably ok ... right? Sarah would keep him busy. Her mom would probably bombard him with questions. Vance would...well just distract Cal just by being there. She knew Cal wanted to tell Vance who he was but was afraid of what his reaction would be. She sighed. Somethimes Cal just seemed...lonely. Even more when Emily went to visit her mom. Sometimes she just wanted to be there for him. Sometimes she even wondered if she and Cal could be...together. But something told her that wasn't a good idea. That maybe she would end up like Zoe. She did love him though. But never dared to speak of it. She wouldn't help but wonder if he felt the same. She gave out another long sigh. What if it did work. What if they were togehter? 'Get the thought out of your head Gill. You married!' her mind spoke. She was married, but she wasn't happy. For some reason she always got the feeling Alec was alwasy trying to avoid such conversations. Like when she would ask him 'How was your day?', he would shurg and always counter act with a question of his own. She had thought of a divorce but she thought that her parents would be ashamed of her. She was suddenly pulled from her crashing train of thought when she felt a hand on her arm. She glanced to her right to see it was Alec.

"Hey." she said.

Alec nodded. "You seem down."

Gillian sighed internally. Yea I am. "I'm ok. Just thinking."

"About what?" Alec pushed.

"Nothing Alec." She turned to walk to Danny and the rest of them but didn't see them.

"They went to go find the others."

Gillian was surprised. SHe had been so deep in thought that she didn't see them going. "Oh. Well let's go too then."

Alec grabbed her arm before she could take another step. "Let's talk." Alec tried.

Gillian did sigh this time. She turned back fully. "About what Alec?"

"I don't know. Anything."

"Look Ale-" she was cut off by Cal and Sarah calling her name. She tore her gaze from Alec and pulled her arm out from his grasp. She turned around and saw Sarah and Cal walking up to them. "Hey Sarah. Did you have fun?"

Sarah nodded and held up something. It was a necklace of her name engraved on it. "Uncle Cal bought this for me."

Gillian looked up at Cal who smiled and held up his own set of dog tags. "And Sarah bought this for me."

Gillian smiled. "Looks good." she forgot about Alec for a moment and continued to stare into Cal's beautiful eyes. He stared back and havn't moved since. It wasn't until Greg cleared his throat that they knew where they were.

Both turned at the same time. Greg stood there, with his arms crossed, and a small grin dancing on his lips. Gillian looked down and tried to hide her red face and Cal looked away, anywhere. Sarah looked back and forth between them and started laughing.

"I see we're having fun." Greg commented, smirking.

From the back, Alec sighed quietly and quickly walked next to Gillian and put an arm around her. For a moment she was shocked but remembered that Greg thought they were happily married. She looked up just in time to see Cal's eyes. She thought she saw sadness in them, but he broke contact and looked away again. Gillian wanted to go up to him and put his arms around her. She mentally blamed herself and sighed.

Sarah was the one who broke the silence. "Where's daddy uncle Alec?"

"He's...with Brian right now. I think-oh there they are." He pointed to a group coming towards them. Sarah ran over to her grandma and smiled, leaving Cal standing there alone. But that wasn't long lived. Vance came out of the group and came up to him.

"I gotta talk to you." He whispered. Vance looked up at Gillian and motioned her to follow. She pulled away from Alec grasp and walked away as Alec looked back, wondering where they were going. The three walked near the corner of the hotel. Vance pulled out his phone and gave it to Cal. The map and Evan's green flash was on it. But the new thing was the four white dots on the screen too.

"What's this?" Gillian asked.

"This," he said pointing to the white, "are these." he held up two watches and gave one to Cal and Gillian, who put them on. "It's a tracker. I already gave one to Ben." Cal saw as one of the white dot was father away from the other three, which were them. "And these," He gave Cal and Gillian each a new blackberry, "are the device your going to use to track it down."

Gillian pressed a button and the map came flashing on.

"Evan's pretty...far away." Cal stated, staring at the device.

Vance shrugged. "Not far enough." he winked.

-x-

It was almost to the end of the first round of the tour around Vegas and they hadn't even seen half the city. It was almost one and the family agreed that they would come again tomorrow night.

Back at the family hotel, everyone went straight to bed. Cal was laying down on his bed, his eyes open. Today had been...tiring at the most. His head was storming with thoughts. Evan, DeGrow, the Pentagon...and Gillian. Gillian. Gillian Foster. God how he loved her. He was always afraid to admit it though. After all, she was married. To Alec. Just thinking about him made Cal's eyes glare into the dark nothingness of the room. He sometimes wanted to kill him. He knew Alec was cheating, sometimes even doing drugs. He knew though, that Alec was trying to get off the drugs. He sighed inwardly. If he could, he would beat him to a pulp. Cal didn't want Gillian to get hurt in any way. He just wanted her to be happy. He flipped to his side as he thought about Germone and everything that had gone down so far. Since the beginning, things have gotten a little safer. Germone promised not to hurt Gillian or her family. Cal was glad for that. He couldn't bear to live if he allowed Gillian to get hurt. He would throw away his life in a second if he had to.

Then there was Vance. Cal hadn't told Gillian this, mostly because she hadn't asked, but the reason he found out that Vance was his son, was the scar on his neck. It was a pretty long scar, made from a dagger. He had seen the tip of it in the hospital office when they were visiting the doctor. When Vance leaned forward, he could see. Then when he went swimming, he saw, and yestarday when Vance came out of the shower. If he was right, the scar started at the collarbone and went all the way down half way. That had been his fault to. Cal shook his head trying to get the vision out of his head.

* * *

_I managed to pull him away. I fought hard though and even managed to kick one of them in the face, earning a good grip on his arm in the process. The man on the ground stared in horror. His face was covered by darkness, I couldn't see his face. The man growled, mustered all the strength he had left, and jumped to the boss, knocking him to the cold cement floor. But before he could punch, he was roughly pulled off and pulled to the wall on the other side. He was momentarily winded. He groaned, picked up his head from the floor, and blinked, trying to see._

_The boss spit the blood on his lips, grabs the dagger to his left and went straight toward him. He picked the man up from the ground, and pulled the dagger. It was close to the man's next. I was terrified. Without thinking, I jumped, somehow pulled myself from the men's grasp and ran over to the boss. I managed to knock the man to the ground. I had no idea who he was or why I was doing this but I just did. Next thing i knew, I was on the floor. I felt something run down my neck and as I looked at the ground I saw blood. That's when I felt the tingling of pain on my neck. My put my hand up and-_

* * *

Vance gasp and sat straight up on the bed, his eyes wide open. He was gasping for breath. His body was covered in sweat and was trembling from head to toe. For a moment, he could only see black. He rapidly blinked his eyes. That was a third time that dream happened. It was always with the same, anonymous guy. The nightmares ended a long time ago but started once again when they re-started the case on DeGrow, and he wondered why. Vance shook his head.

"Hey you alright?" A voice said beside him.

He flinched and turned so fast his head was dizzy. Then he saw it was Cal and then he remembered what he was doing here.

He sighed. "Yea. Just a dream. Sorry I woke you."

"I don't think it's 'just a dream'" Cal said, leaning on his left elbow.

"I'm fine." He pulled back the covers and swung his legs off the bed. "I'll be right back." He got up and left the room, the sound of the door clicking could be heard around the quiet apartment hotel.

-x-

Cal sighed and lay back down. Was Vance ok? What was the dream about? Was he having nightmares about what happened in the past? Maybe a foster parent...or him. His head was swarming with thought and questions until he couldn't take it anymore. He drowned two Aspirins and went back into bed. After a couple of waiting, he lay on his side. Not seeing Vance in his bed, he decided to confront him later.


	13. Chapter 13

**HELLLLOOOO~! another chapter! :)))))))))))))))**

Cal stirred and opened his eyes. The sun was shining down on his room. He noticed that he was lying on his stomach and shook his head, trying to get away from the sleepy stupor. He rubbed his eyes and sat up. It was 7 in the morning. He got up and noticed that Vance's bed was empty. Thinking he was in the bathroom, he went over and knocked, just to realized that it was open and empty. He shrugged. He was probably outside. Cal wandered back to his bedside table and put on his shirt. He changed into jeans and stretched. Cal stayed there for a moment and went over to his suit. From the pocket, he pulled a black velvet box. As he opened it, he saw a silver bracelet with the engraving 'To Gill. Thanks for always being there for me. Cal.' Sure, it wasn't really him, but he was trying new things. He smiled one last time, stuffed it back into his suit pocket and walked out the room door. He was instantly hit with the aroma of morning coffee. He followed the smell and saw Gillian sitting sideways on the cough, her back to him. He grinned and waited until Gillian put down her coffee cup. When she did, he came up to her and said, "G'mornin, love."

She jumped and spun around. "Cal! God, you scared me."

Cal chuckled and went around the couch and sat down next to her, draping his arms across the back of the couch. Gillian was still in her pajamas. Purple pants with a white top. Cal swallowed inside his head and tried to get some weird, naughty thoughts from his head.

Gillian, was quite the same. The shirt Cal was wearing was doing little to hide his- what was she thinking! You have a husband, Gill. A husband. Still, Cal was everything in a guy she hoped for, except for the gambling problem, and the occasional suspicion, and the...so he wasn't perfect. But she still...loved him. As hard as it was to admit it, she was in love with her best friend and partner.

"What are you doing up so early, Cal?"

He slouched down more on the couch. "I could say the same about you."

Gillian smiled, shaking her head and got back to the book she was reading. Cal was so captivated in her gaze, he didn't notice that the apartment hotel was eerie quiet. "Gil, where is everyone?"

Gillian looked up again. "Alec, Danny, and Vance are out getting breakfast. Mom, dad, Sarah, and Brian are asleep."

Well that explains where Vance went.

"And your..."

"Trying to read while my friend bugs the hell out of me." Gillian finished with a small smile.

Cal, who thought Gillian was annoyed, apologized and moved to get up. However, as he got up, Gillian put a hand on his arm, stopping him in an instant.

"Cal," she laughed, "I was joking. Sit down."

Cal sat back down with a very confused and amused feeling. He never knew with her. That was one of the reasons she was his best friend. Cal got comfortable again. Gillian still had a smile on her face.

He drummed his fingers on his leg. Gillian went back to reading and Cal turned on the t.v. There was a moment of silence. Cal shifted on the couch.

"So, what you readin'?" He asked. "Somethin' romantic?"

"How did you ever know, Cal?" She giggled and held up the book. On the cover was a very cheesy romantic title. "Your right." she stated.

Cal chuckled. She was always a sucker for romance. It made him wonder why she couldn't have that with anyone. He would gladly volunteer for the job if it meant making Gillian happy. But he could never make her happy that way. In fact, she could never really be happy with him. He never really knew what women wanted. Zoe proved that. The thought made him think for a moment.

_Why can't I make her happy? _He pondered in his thoughts. Ironically, his thoughts answered.

_Cause' your a player, that's why. You take women for granted and never ever think twice about what you do. If you ever make Gillian fall in love with you, you'll hurt her by going out and smooching some random hooker. _

His thought was probably right. He couldn't get any closer to Gil than now. He would have to live alone...forever maybe. That thought actually startled him for a moment.

Gillian frowned, looking at how lost in space Cal looked. She reached out a hand and touched his arm. His eyes found her and she smiled. HE got the warm-inside feeling, something he regularly got around her.

"You ok?" She asked, a bit concerned. She knew that it must be hard for him to be around the whole family.

Cal stayed there, unmoving for a while. He nodded slowly. "Yea. Yea I am, Love."

"Good." She scooted a bit towards him, laid her head on his legs and smiled up at him. Cal was a bit stunned at first, not thinking she would do something so...close while they were with her family. But instead of moving away like he thought he should have, he relaxed and watched tv with a small smile forming on his lips.

The bracelet! he thought. Now was the perfect time to give it to her. They were alone, and it was a friendship bracelet, nothing to...romantic. Just a gift from a friend...right?

_You sure you wanna give it to her? _His mind asked in a suspicious tone.

_Yea...it's not like I'm asking her to marry me or anything. _The thought made him smile even more.

"Love?"

Gillian turned. "Yea, Cal?"

"Can I get somethin' from my room?"

Gillian laughed. "Yea hold on." She moved and sat up. Cal quietly got up and went to his room, closing the door.

He hurried to his jacket, a smile plastered on his face. He reached in, and opened it. It still shined in the moon light. He closed and and reached for the door, all the sudden sweaty.

-x-

She moved and he got up. The clicking of the door could be heard as he closed the door. She smiled. He looked human when he was nervous and not a human lie detector. She chuckled quietly and shook her head. Just then, the front door opened and laughter filled the room. Alec and Danny came in laughing like a couple of maniacs. Danny more than Alec. Vance was next to come in but he wasn't laughing. Smiling, yes, but anyone can tell he was trying hard not to laugh.

"That was HILARIOUS!" Danny roared into laughter. He and the other put the bags of fast food on the dining room table. Gillian laughed. That was a lot of food. Just then, the door behind her opened and Cal came out. She turned just in time to see him stand still for a moment, the smile wiped off from his face. He quickly stuff something into his pocket. She couldn't see what though.

"Hey, Cal. What was it you needed to get?"

Cal hesitated for a second. "My phone."

That was a lie...why would he lie to her?

Before she could say anything else, he went into the dining room just as Alec came out. He was still laughing when he sat on the couch next to Gillian, and draping his arm around her. It felt different than when Cal had his arm dangerously close to her.

"What's so funny?" she asked Alec once he calmed down a little.

"We..." he went into a fit of laughter again.

"It's not that funny!" Vance shouted from the other room. Alec just kept on laughing.

"Yes it this!" Alec shouted back, his voice muffled by laughter.

"Hey Gill!" Danny yelled. A second later he came out of the room, a smile on his face. "What do you want to eat for breakfast?"

Gillian was dumbfounded. "Didn't you guys go get McDonalds?"

"Well...we got McDonald, Burger King, Taco Bell, pizza, Jack in The Box, your name it. We even got a little Chinese." Danny chuckled.

"What? Why did you guys get so much?" Gillian practically yelled. She was wondering how the kids and her parents could sleep through all this racket.

Danny laughed. "Ask Vance."

Gillian was really confused.

-x-

Dammit! he thought. He missed his chance. He could feel the weight in his pocket as he tried to ignore Gillian's gaze on him when he walked into the dining room. They came early, he thought. He would get a chance...right?

The dining room table seemed to disappear under the bags of food. "What the..." he trailed off.

Vance was busy taking the food out and shouting at Alec and Danny to shut up. Alec was no where to be seen, probably with Gillian in the living room. Danny was holding his stomach and laughing. Cal could tell Vance was laughing inside too. His face said it all.

"What happened?" Cal questioned Vance.

"Huh?" Vance looked up. "Oh I kinda got too much food-" Just then, Danny walked in.

"Kinda?" Danny barked. "You freakin' got every on the block!" He laughed.

"Hey! It wasn't my fault!"

"Yea?"

"Yea!"

"Want to bet?"

"Sure!"

"WHAT THE HELL IS ALL THIS NOISE!" a voice barked from behind them. Everyone went quiet. At the doorway of the hall, a very angry Gregory Anderson stood, his face red as a tomato. Behind him, Carol appeared then the kids who were rubbing their eyes.

"Here we go again." Danny whispered to Cal, who was confused beyond words.

"Well?" Greg questioned again. From the other doorway, Gillian and Alec appeared, his hand on her back. Cal tried real hard not to do or thing anything.

"Well you see dad," Danny started with a nervous laugh, "Vance got too much food..."

-x-

"Hey!"

There was a big splash as Danny fell in the swimming pool. Brian and Sarah tried to swim away but Danny followed after them, chuckling. Greg, Carol, Gillian, and Alec were siting at the table outside the hotel apartment talking and laughing. The kids, Danny and Vance were swimming in the pool. Cal had excused himself and went out to the parking lot where Ben was and got into the car.

"What now?" Cal asked.

"I got somethin for you." Ben reached into the back seat and pulled out a box and handed it to him. Cal looked at him curiously and opened it. Inside were files. Old files, new files, everything. He glanced up. "Old cases of Vance and Germone's that all had a connection to either Evan or John DeGrow."

Cal looked back into the box. "That's...alot," was all he could say.

Ben nodded. "We need to know why their doing this. Then maybe we can actually do something about it."

Cal just sat there for a second. "Didn't DeGrow say that he wanted me dead?" he asked quietly.

"Yea...we don't know why though."

"He said I know where he is..." Cal was lost in his own thoughts now.

Ben looked at him now. "Lightman, where you goin with this?

Cal bit his lower lip. "Ben what if I..." That's as far as he got.

"No." Reynolds said. "Your not turning yourself in."

Cal sighed. He knew Ben would say that, but it was worth a try.

"Ben, don't you have the tracking device on him?" Cal said as the sudden idea came into mind.

Ben sighed. He took at his phone and showed it to Cal. The green light showing Evan was there. "That light hasn't been moving in five hours. So I went out after it, to find it abandoned in a hotel kitchen." He put it back in his suit pocket.

"So we're back to square one." Cal stated with a huge sigh.

There was silence in the car for a while, until Ben broke it. "You really have no idea how this John DeGrow knows you or why he wants you dead?"

Cal shook his head. "Not a clue."

Ben nodded slowly. "We'll get him though."

-x-

Cal put the box in his and Vance's room and went out to the swimming pool. Danny and the kids were still in there but Vance was pulling himself out, trying to avoid getting hit by water. Cal saw the scar on his neck and was overshadowed by sadness and guilt. Just looking at it, made his chest hurt. He swallowed, putting up his walls of emotionless state and walked over to him.

Vance saw him walking toward him and tried to dry himself with a towel.

"Hey. I talked to Ben." Cal said. He could see the scar more closely now, though he tried not to. The scar was ragged and old but it wasn't faded.

"Yea? What'd he say?"

Cal nearly shook himself from staring at the scar. "He uh gave me your and Germone's case files of everything related to the DeGrow family."

Vance nodded. "We got to look through them again?"

Cal shrugged. "Can't afford mistakes I guess."

Vance chuckled. "I guess."

"Did Reynolds tell you about the tracking device?"

Vance glanced at him. "No, why?"

Cal in took a breath. "Well I guess Evan found it and ... well yea.."

Vance cursed. He ran a hand through his damp hair and let out a frustrated sigh. "That's ok right? It's not the end of the world...We'll find a way." He sounded doubtful.

Cal nodded and sighed himself. They walked to a bench as they talked more about the case, Vance getting frustrated every once in a while.

Cal just nodded or agreed at questions. His thoughts were literally elsewhere. They were on Gillian. He knew he should be focusing on the case but...she just always seemed to take his mind off of things. She was his life basically, her and Emily...and Vance. She was _always_ there for him. No matter what. And as he looked at her right now, at her smiling face, her laughter, he had to admit, he was a bit jealous. Of Alec. Alec. How he wished he could beat him to a pulp. Alec had everything. He was born from a great family, married a great wife and had great in laws, who cared about him. Cal had none of that. The more he thought about it, the more he thought he was going to be alone for the rest of his miserable life. What would he do after wards? After Emily got married, after everyone moves on, what would he do? Probably sit at his office, drinking after another case, like he had when Zoe and he separated. But Gillian wouldn't be there. She would have moved on also...she wouldn't be there to comfort him when he got drunk, or when he got into fights. He loved her. It was simple as that. He loved her with every inch of already broken heart. But she was married. Although he did get his way around people, he wasn't a heartless bastard who stole men's women. Even if that man was a total jerk.

"You love her, don't you." The question, or statement, caught him off guard.

Cal turned his head and stared at Vance who stared right back at him. Then he realized he must have been staring off into space, or Gillian, for the past couple of minutes of so, lost in his thoughts. He didn't remember anything Vance had said.

"Dr. Fost-Gillian. You love her." Again, it was more of a statement. Cal was dumbfounded. Was it that obvious?

"I..." Cal trailed off, not knowing what to say to his son. This was an odd conversation. Usually it would be the dad questioning the son about his love life. This was completely backwards. It was a bit awkward.

When Cal didn't answer, Vance said, "You have that look. In your eyes. When ever you look at her, they sparkle. And your lips curl up...just a little. But I can see. I know you don't want anyone to know, 'cause she's married and all. But you can tell she's not happy right?" Cal was truly surprised now. "I like Alec, he's cool and always been there for me but the way he treats Gillian and how he comes into my office just begging not to tell her about a one night stand every once in a while after I catch him going into a hotel room with another lady in his arms...I just think that because he's always there for me, I should be too. So I didn't say anything. But over the last few months, it got worse and I can't handle lying to her anymore. I have a feeling she knows too..." He sighed and leaned forward, his eyes trained on the ground.

Cal was silent for a great amount of time. Vance knew? And he didn't tell Gillian about it? This was very difficult. "Why...why are you telling me this?" he asked quietly, almost in a whisper.

"I thought...I thought you could make her happy. She always seemed different around you."

Cal seemed to get that comment inside his head. Absent-minded, he nodded.

"You never answered my question." Vance pushed.

"I do..." Cal said, knowing what he was talking about. "I always have."

-x-

**hahaha lol i havnt really updated...i was busy :P sorry guys if your waited so long. thanks for all the alerts tho! made my day fo sho! anyways imma watch the superbowl ^^ haha peace out! (I'll update as soon as i can)**


	14. Chapter 14

**wasuppp! ...tht was wierd. heres another chappy before i go on my 'road to study' :) haha thts a lame title but o well :D**

"I got nothin. You?"

"Nothing here."

Cal, Vance and Greg were rummaging through the files. They divided the box into three sections and each took a piece. Cal was spread out in one bed, Vance in the other and Greg sat at the desk, his reading glasses on. On the floor next to them were a pile of read files that looked more like dumped paper. Another file was added to the pile as Cal threw one down.

Both Cal and Greg looked up. "What did your find?" Both said in union.

"There's got to be...something." Vance had his nose deep in one particular file. The first one he's ever worked on that involved DeGrow. "Ah-hah!" He jumped off the bed.

"John and Evan were both orphans at the age of 12."

Cal and Greg expected him to say more and stayed silent. But when he didn't go on, Greg said, "And?"

"And, no kid wants to be in an orphanage." Cal swallowed. Vance continued. "I saw a couple of records from the orphanage they were taken to, and it turns out they kinda had a hiding spot just outside the bridge of the place. It's like some old warehouse or something. Sometimes they would break out in the middle of the night, sneak into there and do experiments or stuff."

"What does that tell us about where they are..." Greg asked, clearly more than a little confused.

"John could be there right now! I mean if we don't have Evan's tracking device one him, he could even be there for all we know." Vance was getting very excited now.

Greg considered this for a moment. "Where is this orphanage?"

"Just outside of DC." He answered without even looking down at the paper. Hope was in his eyes.

Greg looked to Cal. Cal shrugged and Greg's gaze was back on Vance with a sigh. "Call Agent Reynolds. We're going to need back up."

Vance beamed. In a second he was out of the room, phone in hand. Greg soon went back to the file in his hand. Cal sat there for a moment. He felt worse now. The way Vance said that no kid wants to be in an orphanage. He said it with absolutely no emotions. It made Cal think twice about whether or not to tell Vance about the secret. He sighed. Cal had no idea what to do anymore. Things were getting more complicated now, way more complicated. Just then, his phone buzzed. He picked it up. It was a text. The screen didn't have a number, just said out of area. As curiosity filled him, he picked up his phone and flipped it open.

On the screen were the words '_I see you figured out where my brother and I are. Try to come and find us. You'll be welcomed. -JD'_

Cal's eyes got wide. His jaw started to slowly open in silent surprise. JD as in John DeGrow. How the hell did he know they knew? The place must be bugged. He started looking around. He got up, to the bathroom, rummaged through the stuff, came out and searched through the drawers. Greg, meanwhile was staring at him, wondering if he's gone mad.

"Cal, what are you doing?" He managed before Cal got a call. He picked up.

"Your looking in the wrong places, Lightman." There was a laugh. Cal gritted his teeth.

"Where'd you hide it?"Cal mouthed that it was DeGrow and Greg's eyes got wide, coming in closer.

"Ah...you are much more dumb than I thought." There was a pause. "Gregory! Put me on speaker will ya?" he asked Cal.

Hesitating at first, Cal did just that. DeGrow's breathing could be heard echoing through the walls of the room.

"So...Lightman. You figure out where the orphanage is yet?"

Cal wanted to punch the man but it was a phone... "Still looking." He acting as if he didn't care. He put on a straight face too, knowing that he was watching from somewhere.

The door opened and Carol walked in, two cups of lemonade in her hands. "Boys you want a drink?" she had no idea that they were on the phone with a terrorist/serial killer. Cal and Greg was still with shock for a minute.

"C-" Before DeGrow can go any further, Cal shut the phone and turned it off. Carol stood at the doorway, eying them suspiciously.

"Who was that?"

Brain racking, Cal quickly thought of something. "Office. Their having some trouble on a case."

Carol liked this man more and more everyday. Even on vacation he helped out at the office, at least that's what she thought.

Greg sighed in relief. "Thank you, honey." He took the glasses, handed one to Cal and led Carol back out in a haste.

Cal collapsed on the bed. "What do we do? He bugged the place and is probably watching us!"

Greg retreated to the chair and heaved a heavy sigh. "I don't know. We have to tell Vance and Agent Reynolds though. That's the first thing."

No body said anything about confronting Gillian with the news, the two didn't want anything to happen to her.

-x-

They were in the hummer. Vance, Greg, Cal, and Ben. Gillian was in the other car. Cal didn't want Gillian to be involved in this any more than she was now. He was afraid. Even a little more than the others who were in the car with him. The two cars were going back to the hotels. A last look before they go off for home tomorrow morning.

"We'll go to DC in three days." Reynolds spoke.

"Three days? He could be gone by three days!" Cal exclaimed.

"That's the fastest we can get back up. And no, your not going there any faster." Reynolds stated cleary.

Cal sighed. "So we wait three days and go. What happens if we miss him?"

Ben shrugged. "We start all over again. This guy isn't Houdini. He can't just disappear forever."

"He's right." Greg said. "And who knows, maybe they're waiting for us. Maybe they want to talk and figure something out."

Vance then shook his head. "He'd not the kind of person who would do that." He stated quietly.

"We'll get him." Ben said reassuringly.

The two cars parked. One by one everybody came out. As Gillian got out, her eyes went straight to the hummer. She saw Cal get out, he offered a small smile, but that was all. It made her worried. Had something happened? Why weren't they telling her? Something was odd. It made her frustrated. Ben quietly went out the other way, so the family won't see. He got into another car and waited until they were all focused on sight seeing. Then he would get out and follow them, just in case Evan showed up.

This time, instead of separating into groups, the whole family went together. They were walking down the busy street. Ben a little farther apart from the group but still had an eye on them. They didn't notice, there were way to many people around. Cal and Greg were towards the back of the group. Vance in the front, holding hands with Sarah. Cal's eyes darted everywhere. Gillian kept looking back at him now and then. Concern was glowing in her eyes. Cal just dismissed it with a smile. She sighed. This was getting more and more frustrating. Why did they go in the car alone? That question was still flouting inside her head like an out of control air balloon. Sooner or later, it was going to pop.

She didn't know why he was ignoring her, and it scared her. Was it something she had said? Or done? Second by agonizing second, her frustration only grew. She would have marched over there and said something if it wasn't for her husband right next to her. It would be easy though, to just lie to Alec and pull Cal over to one side, away from the watchful eye of her husband. Having absolutely no idea of what was going on was the hardest bit. Were they in more danger? But Evan could have gotten away. They were just getting paranoid. But working on a case that involved more brain and intensive care then others, was not an easy thing. It was, in one way, very hard to focus on one thing and go about others. All four of them were focused on the case, but never mentioned, nor looked how tired they really felt. It was nerve racking.

Gillian, who was deep in thought, kept on walking, not noticing that she was alone. Well not alone, there were hundreds of people around her, it was Vegas after all, but alone, her family no where to be seen. She felt panic rise inside her, and tried to stay calm. She searched around, looking for any familiar face. She didn't find one.

-x-

He didn't want to ignore her. But if he didn't, she would look right through him, see what's wrong and make him confess whatever he was hiding. HE would offer her a small smile though, to ease his own heart. He sighed. And with this son who didn't even know they were blood related. He had told Gillian, and that was about it. He decided that unless it was a death, live situation, he would not tell another living soul. He didn't want to ruin everyones lives by telling them he was Vance's dad. No. Not ever. He would take that secret to his grave. He ran a frustrated hand through his hair. Why were things so damn complicated?

Cal reluctantly picked up his phone as it started ringing. "Hello?"

"Lightman."

His eyes widened just a little and his brain went on alert. "DeGrow. What do you want?"

"You," was his simple answer. "You know where I am. Come here and I won't cause anymore trouble."

Cal almost laughed. "And why would I go there?"

"Cause if you don't, your poor Gillian will get hurt."

Cal's world turned to a stop. HE would hurt Gil? He better not. If that monster ever laid a hand on her, he swore he would rip it right off. "We're in the middle of hundreds of people. You can't just come out and shoot."

He looked up and saw everyone pressed to the railing of a fence. In front of them, a beautiful firework was happening. The sight was simply breathtaking. The different mixture of colors and sparks. Cal saw every one there...except Gillian. He thought she was close by so he went looking for her. He must have walked past dozens of faces, but none of which was Gillian's. He started to panic. What if Evan hadn't gone back to DC? What if he planned to take her? Cal was in full blown panic mode now. Every single nerve on his body was on alert. He scanned faces, only spending a millisecond on one. He suddenly felt a strange feeling of anger towards Alec. How can that man be so calm even if his wife wasn't next to him! Did he even give a damn? Cal growled inwardly.

-x-

Gillian wandered around. At least she wasn't plain alone, at night in Vegas. She was in the middle of the crowd. But she felt an odd sense of feeling crawling up her spine. A sense that she was being followed.

-x-

"I have my ways, Lightman," the voice on the other end taunted.

Cal growled. "Where the fuck are you," he hissed into the mic. He was no where near the group now. He heard the beeping on his phone. It was Reynolds and Vance but he didn't have anything else in mind anymore, everything was focused on Gillian, and only her.

There was a laugh that sent chills diving up his spine. "Where always have been. The warehouse, planning."

-x-

She turned around, expecting to see someone holding a gun or something. But she saw nothing.

-x-

"Don't you dare touch her." Cal threatened, his voice dangerously low.

Another laugh. "I won't..."

-x-

She was still wandering. She didn't know where to go. Panic started to seize her. Then she heard a voice.

-x-

"...just yet." There was a click as the phone call ended.

Cal whipped around just in time to see the back of Gillian's head in the crowd. "Gillian!"

-x-

She turned around at the familiar voice. "Cal!" Boy, was she happy.

They ran to each other and hugged. Cal gripped her like she was his last life line and she the same. Gillian buried her head in his chest. He rubbed her back. After a while, Cal lifted Gillian's head off of his chest and lifted her chin with his fingers.

"Gil, you ok?" His eyes were dropping with fear and concern.

She had to smile back at his concern. "Yea. I am now."

They stood there for a while, until they were interrupted, by no other than Alec.

"Gillian!" He ran over to her as Cal dropped his hand. Alec pulled her into a hug. Cal hung back as he saw the rest of the gang come through. Soon, they were bombarded with questions.

"Where were you?"

"Are you ok?"

"Did you get lost?"

"Can you give me twenty bucks?"

That last question was Danny. He was laughing and Brian kicked him in the ankle at the comment.

Gillian smirked. "I'm fine guys."

Greg, Carol, and Alec glanced at Cal. He had his head down and was looking at his phone. Alec pulled her to one side. "What happened?" He whispered.

Gillian risked a glance at Cal. He was talking to Carol. "Nothing. I was talking to something at the office about a case. I guess I got distracted and ... wandered off," she told him truth.

Alec seemed to think she was lying. "And Cal?" To him it seemed that the two were going to kiss, before he had yelled out his name.

"And Cal found me." She was going to stand her ground. For Cal too. If he blamed Cal for the reason she wandered off, she would never hear the end if it.

Before he could utter another word, she pulled him for a kiss. Alec was shocked. Gillian was shocked at herself. Cal was the most shocked.

She didn't know why she did it. Yes she did. If Alec was distracted then it would mean no trouble for Cal. So she kissed her two timer husband.

Cal stood a few feet from them, talking with Carol when he saw the kiss. Afterwards, Alec had caught his eyes and smirked. Gillian turned around, saw him gaping and avoided his eyes. Why did he care anyways? Cause he loved her. Cause he would do anything for her. And it was her who pulled in for the kiss first, not Alec. Maybe she was just tired. Tired of waiting. Maybe he was already to late. He dipped his head down, made some lousy excuse to Carol and walked away.

Carol watched him go. He had told her that he needed to check up on something at the office. She sighed. Somehow, she knew he was lying. She liked Cal, maybe more than Alec. But Alec was married to her daughter and Cal wasn't, what was she going to do about it? And Greg liked Alec. This was all very complicated.

Cal walked far away as possible. He was nearing a corner to the parking lot when he felt a tap in the back. He turned to see Alec standing there. Alone. The parking lot was filled with cars but was deserted. Not a single person in sight.

Alec cleared his throat. He looked mad. "What were you doing with my_ wife_?" he asked, making sure to put the emphasis on 'wife'. He jabbed a finger at Cal.

Cal tried to not hit him as hard as he could. "I was lookin' for her," was his simple anwser.

Alec's jaw clenched. "Why."

"Cause' I didn't see her," he said in truth. He turned to leave.

"She's never going to want you," Alec said. Cal kept on walking, ignoring him. "You can't make her happy. A playboy like you can't make her happy." Cal stopped dead in his tracks. His fists clenched and he took in a deep breath, trying to ignore Alec. A playboy like him? "No wonder Zoe left you...she couldn't trust you," Alec continued taunting. Cal shook his head and started to walk away from him. But the last sentence did it. "Your mom too. What did you do to make her kill herself."

Cal stopped mid step, his eyes widened in genuine amazement. He didn't know Alec would go that far. His jaws tightened and without wasting another second, he turned around, and punched Alec with all his hatred and frustration, right in the face. Alec's head snapped back and he fell clinging to his nose. Blood was seeping through his hands. Cal stood in front of him, chest heaving up and down, his face flooded with fury.

"Alec!" a voice shouted from behind him. Cal turned to see Gillian staring at them, a horrified expression plastered on her face. Behind her, the family was there, a similar expression on all their faces, especially Vance. Gillian ran over to Alec and crouched down. She ignored Cal for a moment. Vance ran over to Alec also, trying to help the bleeding stop. That was when Gillian looked up and Cal. Her face was a mix of horror, surprise, confusement, and most of all, anger. She got up. "What in the world were you thinking?" she practically yelled in Cal's face. He stood there, still in his dangerously violent state. He turned his gaze from Alec to Gillian, his eyes as cold as ice. At first, it scared her and she took an uneasy step back. His eyes, she had never ever seen them like that before. It made shiver run down her spine.

Vance helped Alec up, holding one arm and his back so he won't fall. "You ok?" Vance asked quietly.

Alec nodded. His face crunched up in pain.

"What happened?" Greg moved forward from the back. Cal's back was to him. Gillian looked back into Cal's eyes. Instead of looking back, his eyes were trained at Alec again.

"Cal hit me." Alec huffed.

Greg turned to Cal. "Is that true?" In reality, he knew it was true, everyone there did. They had seen the punch, but nothing before. Danny rushed both his kids into the car and came back, not wanting them to see this. Cal nodded, his eyes still trained on Alec.

Vance didn't know what was going on. Why would Cal do that? He didn't know Cal personally, but he knew that he wouldn't do something like that.

Cal, meanwhile, wasn't thinking straight. He just wanted to beat Alec. The thought of his mom killing herself because of him, was pushed out of his mind for 40 something years. Now it was back. And it was eating him from the inside out. His hand was numb from the punch but he didn't feel that. He saw the surprise in Gillian's face. He'd seen it on Vance's. He didn't feel like he had the courage to turn around and face everyone. So he just nodded at Greg's question and walked off.

Everybody back there was still confused. Alec had a small smile under his hands. It worked.

Gillian was standing there, looking at Cal's retreating form until he turned a corner and was out of sight. Why would he do that? She stepped forward, go go after him but a hand pulled her back. She was soon hearing Danny's voice in her hear.

"Don't worry. He just needs to calm down." Danny pulled her to one side.

"I know but..." Gillian tried.

"But nothing. Look I know the kind of guy Cal is. He won't just go around punching people like that. I'm sure he has a reason and will tell someone later one. He just needs space."

Gillian stared at her brother. He was right. But what was the reason? And why did he punch Alec? Questions invaded her mind as she tried to figure things out.

-x-

Cal caught a cab and went back to the hotel apartment. He payed the cabbie and went inside. No one was there. It was quiet. He sighed and went to his and Vance's room. He sat on the bed, angry at Alec, at himself. He had his head in his hands when he realized something. He was causing too much trouble here. He didn't want to break up a perfectly good family.

_Bzzzz Bzzzz_

His phone buzzed. A text message. He flipped it open to see it was from DeGrow. '_Don't want Gillian hurt do you? Come to the warehouse by tomorrow. Alone.' _

He sat there staring at the text for a moment. With a yell, he threw the phone to the wall on the other side of the room. There was a crack and a thump as the broken phone hit the ground.

'I'll go,' he thought. 'For Gill.'

He made his final decision. He got up, pocketed his wallet and was out of the bedroom in a matter of seconds. The front door didn't open and still no one was back to disagree with his mind. He was coming out of the room when he remember something. The bracelet. He couldn't give it to her face to face, especially not now. He walked into Gillian's room and was instantly hit by her smell. He was going to miss that. Chocking up his tears, he removed the the box and placed it on the bed. He scribbled a not and put it on top. Without another look, he turned and went out, not wanting his choice to be faltered.

-x-

Carol, Gillian, and the kids were back in the hotel. The men went out to find Cal and told them to call if he showed up. Gillian sat down on the couch. She was exhausted. She honestly didn't know where Cal was and it was starting to scare her. What if he went out and got himself hurt? What if he did something stupid? Gillian shook her head. She was sure Cal was fine, just downing a drink or two. He'd be back any second! Carol came back with two mugs of coffee. She handed one to Gillian who took it and muttered a thank you. She heaved a sigh.

"You ok Gilly? You have that look on your face." Carol asked quietly.

Gillian only nodded, not knowing how to reply. She took a drink. The hot liquid ran down her throat, warmly her inside. She spoke up, "Do you think he's ok?"

Carol was stopped drinking as she raised her own cup to her mouth. She didn't know what to tell her daughter. But a positive answer wouldn't hurt. "I'm sure he's alright honey." Gillian nodded. "Why don't you get some sleep? We're going back tomorrow after all."

Gillian offered a small smile and got up. "Gnight mom."

"Good night honey."

She didn't want to sleep. She wan't to see if he was ok. But she still retreated to her room, hoping he was ok. When she opened the door, she was welcomed by a surprise. On her bed was a black velvet box and a note on top. She curiously went over and picked it up.

'_You were a great friend, Gill. One I don't deserve. The words on the piece of medal are true. I'm sorry for all the things I've caused you and your family. I was being an ass. I hope you come in term to forgive me. Truly yours, Cal.'_

She nearly dropped the note. Drops of salty tear splattered on the note. Her eyes teared up. Was he gone? Was this good bye? Her hands shaky, she opened the box. Inside was a silver bracelet with the engraving, 'To Gill. Thanks for always being there for me. From Cal.' She let out a soft whimper. He can't be gone. He can't. She rushed up and ran to his room, ignoring her mom's look. When she barged into the room, the first thing that caught her attention was that his clothes was there. She was filled with relief but then she saw, in the corner of the room, Cal's broken phone. He slowly walked up to it and picked it up. I was blacked out, and cracked in several places. She fell to the ground. Carol came into the room. She saw her daughter on the edge of the bed, her hands holding onto a phone.

"Gill?"

Gillian was silently weeping. "He's gone." She had to admit the truth. "He's...gone."

**DONT WORRY! there will be more callian :) **


	15. Chapter 15

**WASHUP! XDDD**

**sorry i wasn't able to update sooner. I hate school :3 haha lol. This chap isn't much but i had to write something ... so... ... ... ... yea...:) ENJOI!**

"What do you mean, Gill?" Carol didn't think she heard her daughter right. Who was gone?

Gillian didn't think that she could say it. She would just probably come to cry again. She clung onto the bracelet and the phone. It had his scent on it. She hardly realized that the broken screen from his phone was cutting into her skin, until Carol came over and slowly separated her hand from the phone and laid the phone down on the ground.

Carol had never seem Gillian like this, well not before her adopted daughter Sophie. She put a reassuring arm around her daughter's shoulder and rubbed her arm. Cal was gone? Why? Why would he go?

"Gill, maybe he just went back to DC to the company. You know that you guys were gone for some time." Carol said.

Gillian had considered that. But then why would he write a note like that? It didn't make sense! Maybe he went to...no...no! He didn't go to DeGrow! He wouldn't! He's not that much of an idiot! He would know that he would get killed if he went there! She just shook her head and sucked up her tears.

-x-

The front door opened and the four men came in. Alec's nose had stopped bleeding but his nose was still sore. They hadn't found Cal, not that they really thought they would in Vegas. No one heard Gillian's soft whimpering from the room. Vance came inside the apartment last, taking his key from the hole. By the time he was inside, everybody had gone into their separate rooms, the soft clicking of the doors signalling that they were inside and didn't want to be bothered.

Vance sighed. He took off his jacket and was going to get a cup of water when he heard something. It sounded like someone whimpering. He took out his piece then shook his head against it. He was getting paranoid. But still, this whole thing with DeGrow and Cal just running off like that, made him think a little differently. He quickly moved away from the kitchen and towards the noise. It was coming from his room. He put his gun in front and slowly, with one hand, pushed the door open. The sight almost knocked him off his feet. Gillian was on the floor, holding onto something and Carol was beside her, comforting her. He sighed in relief that it wasn't DeGrow. But was instantly caught with a question mark on top of his head. What was Gillian doing on the floor? In his and Cal's room? He put the gun on the chest beside the door. He had not been noticed by either women until he cleared his throat. Carol looked up with the saddest eyes ever. She shook her head. Vance nodded in understanding. Gillian was holding Cal's phone. He was gone. He went to DeGrow. Dammit! He debated on either going out and calling him, to yell some sense into him or staying inside the room with Gillian but noticed that Cal's phone was now in Gillian's hand.

He took an uneasy step forward. "Gillian?" He said quietly. She didn't look up. He closed the door behind him, so the others won't hear her weeping. He walked up to her and crouched down next to her. He didn't know what to say. He wasn't a shrink after all. But oddly, something came into mind. "Gillian." She didn't move. "Dr. Foster," he tried again.

His voice sounded like Cal's. She just figured that out and mentally slapped herself, he was Cal's kid. Of course he sounded like him. But instead of somehow cheering her up, she cried. She couldn't even bare to hear his son's voice.

"Dr. Foster," he said, this time getting her attention. "Dr. Foster you once told me that all I needed to do was take a deep breath and try to understand, right?"

She had said that. During one of their sessions, when he barely started talking. She had said that when Vance had gotten mad about his dad...Cal.

-x-

_"Vance." She put a hand on his, but he took his away and got up abruptly. She stayed in her seat, waiting for him patiently to calm down. _

_"Why! Why did he just abandon me?" He threw and tissue box at the wall. _

_Vance was 8 now. And this was the first time he's been out of control, so far. He stood there, furious as he angrily wipes a tear off his cheek._

_"Vance," she knew having him out of control wasn't really going to do anything. But he did need to get things off his chest. He had calmed downed a little, took a seat next to Gillian. _

_"Sorry." He looked down at his hands. _

_"It's ok."She shifted in her seat. "Vance, Vance look at me." Vance hesitated but looked up. His eyes were red and puffy. "Vance I want you to take a deep breath, okay?"_

_He nodded and sucked in a mouthful of air, letting it out slowly._

_"Feelin' better?"_

_"A little," he admitted. _

_Gillian scooted next to him. "I don't know what to say about your dad's actions. But, I know this, you need to try to understand, alright? It's not going to do you any good by living your life in anger. I'm sure he had his reasons."_

_-x-_

"Well that and this isn't that different. You promised me that you and I were going to try to find my dad, right? We spent at least two years trying to find him," Vance said.

Gillian swallowed. They _had _spent two years searching for his dad. If she had known it was Cal, it would have been easier. She remembered thinking that Vance's dad must be a horrible person. Someone who would dump their kids on the side of the road. She had thought that he was a heartless bastard who didn't care what other people thought. But when Cal told her that Vance was his kid, she literally stopped breathing. She couldn't admit that Cal, her best friend and business partner would do something like that. She had seen him numerous times around Emily. He was always careful in what he said and did. It just didn't seem to make sense.

"Well we're going to do everything in our power to get him back, alright?" He put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. He knew they were in blinding love. He didn't want them to have to break that apart.

Gillian nodded. They will find him. And when they do, she will yell some sense into him.

-x-

Vance sighed and went out of the bathroom. His hair was wet from the previous shower. His room was empty, except for him of course. Gillian and Carol had gone back to their own rooms, Gillian still weeping. He sat down on his own bed. The frustration started to grow in him as he tried to figure out why Cal left. It didn't make any sense at all! Vance glanced at the damaged phone which was on the bed Cal formerly occupied. Maybe DeGrow called him? Maybe he went to the warehouse...shit. He went to the warehouse! It was a possibility. Vance hurried to his own phone and dialed Ben's number.

"Hello?" A sleepy voice answered.

"Ben!"

Ben was startled from his sleep. "What?"

"Cal might have gone to the warehouse already."

"What? Why there?"

"He might have gotten a call from DeGrow. I need to to process his phone records. Now."

Ben groaned and he swung his foot off the bed. "I'm on it."

The line disconnected.

-x-

Gillian lay wide awake in bed. Alec's snoring filled the silent room. Her heart was in torment at this moment. She clung onto the bracelet as if it was her life line. Her fingers slowly traced over the engraving. A regretful tear slipped down her cheek. Why would he go and do something like that. They weren't exactly sure he went to the warehouse but she had a pretty good feeling he did. What if he got hurt...or worse!

_No! Don't think about that!_, her mind commented.

She sighed and flipped to her side. They will find him. And when they do, she will give him a piece of her mind. She already missed him. The three had told the rest of the family that Cal had left early because of a case. Vance had packed Cal's luggage and already put it in his trunk. Vance, Gillian, and Greg then told Carol about the case they were working on and everything. She was after all the on who was with Gillian. Carol was surprised at first, then immensely mad. They understood though. They had called Ben about what happened right after. As for the rest of the family, they were still very clue less.

Gillian turned and glanced at the clock. 1:26. They were going to leave at 8 in the morning. A little earlier, so they can get to working on where Cal was. She might as well get some rest. Gillian shut her eyes and silently prayed for Cal to be ok.

-x-

He took the first flight off to DC. A few people glanced his way because he had no luggage. Just his wallet. The plane wasn't that full, just a few people filling the seats. He was sitting alone towards the back, next to the window. He leaned back, and stared out the window. It was dark. Really dark. He could hardly see the sky. But of course he knew that was silly. He was staring at it now. He shook his head and reached inside his pocket, for his phone. He then remembered that he left it back at Vegas. Gillian probably found it, or Vance. Gillian. One part hoped she got the bracelet and the other part hoped she didn't. She would probably be mad, if not furious. He didn't think things would be like this, but maybe this was fate. Maybe they didn't belong together. Maybe she belonged to Alec and he belonged to...no one. He already missed her. He wished to get a phone and call her, hear her voice, hear her laugh. But in his mind, going to DC right now, wasn't a mistake.

He was so engrossed in his thoughts, he didn't hear the voice next to him until a hand touched his arm. He flinched and looked to his right. A flight attendant was leaning over him.

"Sir? Are you alright?" She asked.

Cal nodded, closing his eyes for a moment and opening them again. "Yes, fine."

She smiled. "We'll be arriving down in DC in a few hours. Would you like a blanket?"

Cal looked around. "Um, no, darling, I'm fine." He gave her a small smile.

She returned it, nodded, and left. He sighed and closed his eyes for a moment.

When he left the plane, he was welcomed by the familiar smell of DC air. He frowned, despite returning and didn't waste any time going to find a taxi. He got in one and gave the address. Couple of minutes later, they were going off the highway to a dirt road. Soon, they were closing in on a building. Cal looked out. The old building looked worn down. All around was nothing but grass and on the far side, a river. The taxi stopped a few meters away, not wanting to get close.

The cabbie looked at the rear view mirror. "Are you sure it's here?" His eyebrow lifted in question.

Cal clenched his jaw. He saw the light inside the warehouse. "Yea. Thanks." He handed the cabbie money.

"Look man, it's still dark and I don't think going in there is a..."

He didn't get far. "Have a safe trip back," Cal interrupted. He practically slammed the door. He stood back as the taxi droved back onto the road.

He turned around to the warehouse. With an intake of breath, he walked towards it, ignoring the odd feeling in his heart. He opened the door and peered through. A single light gloomed in the middle of the large space. Under it was a metal chair. He cocked his head sideways. There was no sound coming from inside and he could see no one. He took a step inside, and another. The door behind, closed with a bang and he jerked around. The light suddenly went off and Cal felt a pain on the back of his head as he blacked out.

-x-

"I told Ben to see into his phone records. We might get something out of that, since his phone is completely damaged." Vance said.

Vance and Gillian were jogging their way through the busy airport of DC. They had touched down not ten minutes before Gillian shot through the door with Vance in tow. Everybody else in the family was back at Carol's house and Alec had gone back to his own job. They went out to the parking lot and a black van came to a screeching halt right in front of them. Vance grabbed Gillian's arm and pulled her behind him, thinking the car was occupied by DeGrow's goons, and his hand reached for his gun. But the window rolled down and Reynolds was in the front seat.

"C'mon. Let's go," he said.

Vance sighed in relief and the two went in.

As soon as the door closed, Reynolds pulled out towards the highway. "Well you were right. DeGrow told Cal to meet him there." Ben glanced at the rear view mirror. He didn't mention that it was because Gillian was going to get hurt if he did otherwise. She would feel extremely guilty if he did.

"Did he say why?" Vance asked.

"Nope." Reyonlds replied, hoping Gillian didn't notice his slight hesitation. She didn't She was too deep in thought.

Vance nodded. "Where we goin right now?"

"Lightman group. I brought the FBI there and we can sort something out."

Gillian then spoke up for the first time. "Ben it might be too late!" she argued.

Ben glanced back as the traffic light turned red. "Gillian if we go without a plan, he might get hurt, you might get hurt, and everything might be messed up and we'll be back to square one." He turned back around as the light turned green and Gillian let out a frustrated sigh.

The car was silent in seconds and no body talked. It seemed to stretch on forever. That is, until Vance's phone rang.

"Pierce," he answered.

"What the hell is going on Vance! I'm being bombarded with questions from everywhere and I'm literally locked in my own office!" the voice on the other end yelled.

Vance held to phone away from his ear for a moment. When his 'boss' seemed to calm down, he said, "You haven't heard?" he asked quietly.

"Of course I heard! And I know Lightman well enough to know he would do something idiotic like that! So I want to know why _you_ let him!"

Vance rubbed his forehead. "Look, We're on our way to the Lightman group right now, Germone. Why don't you meet us there and we'll talk."

There was a second of silence from the other side. Then, "Fine."

There was a click and Vance put away the phone.

Gillian, who was seated from behind, heard the whole thing. Maybe Germone knew Cal more than she did? After all, Cal worked under him for quite some time.

**Well im off to buy my Eminem CD now :DD haha i love eminem ^^ I'll try to update ASAP! **


	16. Chapter 16

**SORRY SO MUCH! both my computers crashed and my files got erased -_- so yea...i had to right this all ova again...and I think I left some things out...soo...haha hope you enjoy! :D**

"Oh! Hi Dr. Foster!" Ria Torres exclaimed in surprise. "You back uh..early!"

Gillian would have gotten suspicious if her mind wasn't on a mission to get Cal's stubborn ass back to safety. Ria however, didn't know what this whole thing was about. She had seen the FBI, they were the ones she was arguing with before she had seen Gillian walk in. A few seconds later, a young man that seemed to be about college age and Reynolds walked in. However, the young man was wearing a suit. Reynolds went straight past her where the other FBI were. The other one looked around a bit and his eyes seem to lay on someone and he walked off, first going to direction where Reynolds went but turning, where three Pentagon agents were. He was soon concentrated in a heated conversation.

Ria turned her attention back to Foster but found she wasn't there anymore. What was more bugging her brain was where Dr. Lightman was. A couple minutes later Everybody filed into the conference room. Some sat while others remained standing. Ria saw the younger man she saw earlier move to the front of the room. She stayed back, where Dr. Foster was.

"We have got us a big problem." His Englished accent sounded rarely familiar to Ria. She glanced at Loker but he didn't have a clue whatsoever. She saw him hesitate and glance at Foster. He cleared his throat and continued. "Dr. Lightman has gone missing." The room bursted into 'How's and 'When's'.

The words dropped to her like a ton of bricks. "What?" She said without even thinking. She turned to Foster who had her head down. But her posture said everything.

A man from the corner bellowed out, "Quiet!"

The room went eerie quiet. The young man swallowed and continued. "We have reasons to believe he is somewhere with a suspect of a case." That was all he was going to say to the group. No specific names, no location, no nothing. He and Reynolds agreed that if this got into the media, everything would go into a black hole of disaster.

"Do we know where that is?" Someone from the table spoke.

Before he could answer, Ben stepped forward. "We have a location, yes. We're pulling up a plan as we speak."

"We are going to do absolutely everything we can to bring Dr. Lightman back, alive."

-x-

"Hey wait up!" Ria and Loker called towards the retreating forms of Reynolds and the man who spoke earlier.

He turned. "Yes?"

She had to take a moment to catch her breath. "I never caught your name, and if your going to be working with us, I should know your name."

Reynolds mentally slapped his head for not introducing Vance to the team. "Ria, Eli," he said, "this is Vance. Vance, Ria Torres and Eli Loker."

He shook her hand as Ria seemed to study him. "So is Lightman really missing or is this some test he put us up to again?"

Vance frowned. "He is missing." He turned to go.

"Wait." He turned again. "How do we know your going to bring him back? How do we know we should trust you?" Loker asked? Ria gave him a light punch on the arm.

Vance turned fully and walked up to him. "I don't think questioning our intelligence is something you should be doing right now." Eli stood his ground however.

Vance turned to leave again.

Ben and he walked out the doors the Lightman Group. "We get back up and we're moving out. Right now."

-x-

She didn't know what was going to happen. She was waiting in her office for a call from Vance or Reynolds. Her hands were folded on her lap as if she was being watched and she had her eyes closed. This whole thing was wrong. How did it get to this anyways? He's been on dangerous things before but nothing like this. Nothing like walking into the hands of a killer. What was going on in that English head of his? Was he completely nuts now? Gillian sat forward and turned her tv on. She didn't like the silence in her office. She leaned back and watched the tv without a single thought in her mind as she absent mindely twirled the bracelet Cal had left for her with her fingers. Her soft skin ran over the engravings in a gentle matter.

It had been almost an hour since Vance announced that Cal was 'missing'. And now, the whole building was crawling with people from all kinda of organizations. The front doors never closed and outside the dark room of her office, people buzzed past, holding files, talking on the phone, signing paperwork, or running to different parts of the building. Gillian doubted that they were every going to sleep in the next few days. Ben had called earlier and said they were going to the ware house right away and minutes later she heard dozens of police sirens going off from the building off into the street. She had insisted on going but Ben argued, saying she had no training in shooting a gun for protection or any other training in particular. Gillian knew she wouldn't win the fight so she backed down.

She stared at the phone now. Waiting for it to ring.

-x-

"Ten minutes by vehicle, right off the freeway next to the lake. I need every single men you got on the eye." Vance slapped his phone shut.

"They rounding everyone up?" Reynolds asked from the drivers seat. The siren rang in his ear and he was going to fastest he could, dodging cars on the way. Behind him were dozens of police cruisers all following him. They were on their way to the warehouse.

"Yea." Vance loaded his piece. Soon they swerved and came to an abrupt stop on a dirt road. The ware house was basically right in front of them and there was absolutely no cars around other then police authorized vehicles.

"Let's go."

The two came out of the car in a hurry and went towards the door. The others were forming a layout behind them. Reynolds glanced at the back and when the sergeant nodded, he kicked the door open.

"FBI!" He shouted while going in. Vance was right behind him. The first thing he noticed was that the place was empty. He motioned the officers to check out the rest of the building.

Soon, the sound 'clear' could be heard. The sergeant came out from the back and walked over to Vance. "There's tire marks 'round the back. And since it rained the other day, it's fresh." The sergeant held up a dog tag necklace. "Is this..."

"Yea," Reynolds said seeing the name 'Cal' engraved on it. "Thank you, sergeant." He took the necklace the the sergeant nodded and walked off.

"Damn!" Vance hissed. "We missed them by minutes!"

"Least we know he was here. That's a start." Reynolds handed the necklace to Vance. "Give it to Dr. Foster."

The two turned to go when they heard a 'freeze!' from the back. As they turned, they were welcomed by the sight of Evan DeGrow, being handcuffed. Evan raised his eyes and smiled.

-x-

He groaned and blinked his eyes. Then closed them again when he felt an odd pain shoot up his skull. He tried again and this time he was successful in opening them without causing more pain. Weird. It was pitch black. After a moment, he realized he was blind folded and mentally slapped himself for being such an idiot. He tried to stand up but was pulled back by something. His feet and hands were restrained. Damn. They were tight on. He nearly growled when the floor bounced and he knew he was in the back of a van. Whoever was driving wasn't that careful.

Cal couldn't do anything about being restrained. He pulled on his hands but that didn't help, at all. Trying his feet, he saw that it was the same situation. His body was sore and he felt like his stomach was about to turn inside out. When the car stopped, it didn't help. Cal heard the door open and he felt a cool breeze slap his back. Next thing he knew, he was being pulled up by a set of muscular hands and onto his feet. His trapped feet met the floor.

"Let's go," a voice growled. He felt the tape on his feet being cut off so he could walk. The last thing in his mind before he started walking was the thought of fear.

-x-

"Hello?" Gillian answered the phone in hope. Her eyes fell when she heard what Vance said. "Oh...alright." She hung up. He wasn't there. Where was he! Vance had told her he would tell her the details when he and Reynold came back.

"Dr. Foster?" A voice came from her doorway.

Gillian looked up to see Ria standing between coming in and staying out. "Come on in, Ria."

Ria stepped in and closed the fidgeted with her fingers and a person didn't need to be a scientist to know she was nervous. "I um...I was wondering if we still had to take cases."

Gillian knew what she was talking about. "No, it's okay. We'll do them later."

Ria nodded but made no move to leave. She cleared her throat and said, "If..if you need anything, I'll be in the interview room." She was concerned for her boss. She knew there was something going on between her two bosses but she never said anything. They seemed to be liking the game they played.

Before Gillian could reply, Ria turned and left.

Gillian sighed and leaned back on her chair. She closed her eyes again and pinched the bridge of her nose. Her head was overflowing with worry. She put her head down on her desk to rest a while. When she woke, it was getting light out. The sun was seeping through her closed blinds and she soon found out why she was awake. Ben was by her desk, shaking her shoulders.

"Foster..."

"Mmm?" She rubbed her eyes and for a moment she didn't understand why he was showing worry in his face. But then she remember the reason why the building was overflowing with government personal. She didn't really want to remember, she wanted everything to be the way it was.

Reynolds sighed. "We didn't find him."

Gillian swallowed and tried to hide her emotions. "Vance called."

Ben nodded and hung back a little, now that she was awake. "We..." he hesitated, not sure if he should tell her.

Gillian, noticing something, automatically went into scientist mode. "What is it?"

Ben bit the lower lip. "We found Even at the warehouse. We have him in the interrogation room right now."

Gillian didn't need anymore explaining. She got up and went straight out. Her trip to the interrogation room was short, for she practically ran. When she flung the door open, most eyes turned to her, even the two people inside the cube. Gillian straightened her shirt and walked over the where Eli was. The eyes all turned back to their original forms, peering through the glass wall. Gillian looked up to see Evan, who winked at her. It made shivers run down her spine.

Vance saw Even wink at Dr. Foster and it made him sick. He waved at Eli and soon, the walls were covered by white. They were the only two inside the room, although everybody else could see them.

He cleared his throat. "So, back to the subject, where's Dr. Lightman." It wasn't a question.

Evan looked away from the wall and leaned back on his chair, staring straight at Vance. "Lightman doesn't tell you much does he?"

Vance cocked his head to one side. "Don't change the subject."

He smiled and put his hands behind his head. "Ever wonder who your actual father is?"

Gillian's eyes got wide. Oh no. Did Evan know about Cal's secret?

On the outside, Vance grinned. On the inside, he was screaming at Evan. He didn't need a scum like Evan to tell him who his father was. Vance breathed out. "Where'd your brother take him, Evan?"

Evan smiled even larger. He looked to his right...straight into Gillian's eyes. Gillian's breath caught in her throat. She was sure he couldn't see her from inside but somehow, he managed to hold her captive in his gaze. His eyes were cold and so confident. Evan jerked his head a little towards Gillian. "She knows what I'm talking about." He turned towards Vance again, meeting his eyes straight on.

Vance clenched his jaw and stole a glance at Gillian's direction. Two seconds later, they were back on the person with the orange jumpsuit, handcuffed in front of him. "Tell me where DeGrow took him." Vance seethed with stressed words.

Evan stayed perfectly still. "I don't know. John never told me."

"Bull shit." Vance slapped his hands on the table. "I'll found out where he is either way. So I suggest you tell me right now, or you won't get hurt."

Evan's laugh crackled through the small enclosed room. "I'm good as dead now, agent Vance." He grinned and shook his head. "I'm good as dead."

Vance growled in frustration and flung the files off the desk.

From the outside, Gillian could see the tension in the cube. She was worried about Vance losing it. But what she was mostly worried about was is Evan was going to tell Vance about Cal's secret or not. If he did, she didn't think Vance would want anything to do with him anymore. Gillian had a feeling that that was Evan's intention.

"Then do a last _good_ deed in your life and tell me where the fuck he is!" Vance practically yelled. His hands were pressed onto the cool metal table and he was leaning forward.

Evan leaned forward also. His face was calm, unlike Vance's. He put his handcuffed hands on the table and gave a small grin. "You still don't get it do you?" Vance furrowed his brows. "Every second you waste with me here is meaningless. I'm not talkin'. And you know that."

Vance just about had had enough. His hands shot out and grabbed the orange collar of Evan's jumpsuit and pulled him nearly over the table. Vance leaned in and whispered, "If I find him hurt in anyway, I'll make you wish you weren't born." He flung him back, a disgusted expression on his face. Vance looked out the wall to where the guards were standing. "Get this asshole out of here," he huffed.

A second later, two guards came in and grabbed Evan by the arms, pulling him to his feet. Vance turned around and tried to regain his composure. The three were half way to the door when Evan stopped and called, "By the way, if your ever interested in knowing who your dad is," Evan smiled, "it's Cal Lightman."

Vance stopped his pacing, mid step, his mouth a-gaze. Evan laughed as he walked out, being dragged by the guard. Gillian felt like a bomb had just exploded from beneath her. She heard the door open and Evan walking out with the guards closely next to him. He turned towards Gillian and smiled. She swallowed, her eyes were widened just a bit but anyone could tell she was surprised. Even Eli was surprised at the sudden news, everyone seemed surprised at the sudden news. Gillian looked towards the cube with regretful eyes and saw Vance moving his gaze from the door to her eyes. His mouth ajar and face full in shock.

**hehehe tht was short but extremely fun to write :) hope u liked tht chappy **


	17. Chapter 17

**sup pplz! once again sorry for the delay like a week or 2, im writing two very different stories and the two plots for the stories are like floating around my head :3 hehe well i hopez u enjoy this chappy cause i no alot of u were dying to know how vance took in the info**

Thump.

Cal fell to the floor with a grunt. He was blind folded and his hands cuffed behind his back. The floor was cool and smelled of damp water. A shoe found its place at the side of Cal's cheek and pushed.

"Aren't so tough now are yea?" A voice said.

Cal tried to get his breathing even. "Who are you?"

The shoe got off his face and landed on the floor. Cal heard the man squat. "Don't remember me?"

Cal smirked. Well he knew actually who this was. I mean, he walked into a trap. "John. John DeGrow."

The man laughed and picked Cal up by the arm and dragged him unto a chair. He then ripped the blindfold off of him. Cal shut his eyes at the sudden light. He slowly opened them and realized that the light wasn't bright at all. Just a dim light bulb in the middle of the room. He glanced about until he found who he was looking for. John DeGrow stood in front of him with a plain shirt and jeans. His arms were crossed and he was smiling down at Cal.

"So you do remember me..." DeGrow said with an amused expression on his face.

Cal scoffed. "I don't know who you are. All I know is that you want me dead, you told the Pentagon you were gunna bomb them and now you have me." Cal didn't show any kind of emotion on his face. "So, now that you have me, what do you want?"

DeGrow's smile got even bigger. "Well," he came closer to Cal, "first off, I just want you to be in pain. Second, I want the person you love to see it."

Cal looked confused for a minute. What was going on in that thick skull of his? "And why would you want me to be in pain again?" He didn't mention the 'love' part.

"Because," he took the blindfold back and folded it across in his hands, "you made my life miserable, Lightman. Miserable."

"Wha-" The blindfold was back on his eyes before he knew it. He felt contact with his cheek and his head snapped to one side. A hot, seering pain formed on his right cheek. But he shook his head and looked straight back up at him.

"Got enough strength in you?" he spat.

"What if I do?" Another slap.

Cal could hear DeGrow crouching next to him. He felt the hot breath on his ear at DeGrow said, "I'm going to make you suffer, if it's the last thing I do."

All Cal could do was wonder about what he had done in his life. He didn't remember this guy, in fact, this was the first time he'd seen DeGrow in real life. "Look, I don't even know you."

There was silence. "You will...you will."

-x-

"What's our next plan?"

Reynolds, Ria, Loker, Gillian, Vance, and a few agents from the Pentagon and FBI, including Germone, were in Gillian's office, all huddled around the table. Most had seriously expressions on their faces, some had amused, and one had anger. Vance's.

"Well," Germone answered to the FBI agent, "we need to scout out John's history. See where he hung out, what school he went to, where he lived, all sorts of shit."

The FBI agent took out his laptop and connected with some of the others outside. Germone then turned to Vance who was gazing into space. "Did you maybe get a look at the car's license plate?"

Vance didn't answer. His arms were crossed and he stared down, burning a whole into Gillian's carpet.

"No..." Ben answered for him. He was in the interview room when he was interrogating Evan. He didn't know what all that fuss was about but he had a pretty good idea. "They took off the plate."

Germone's eyes lingered at Vance for a while more and moved back to the group. "Then we start from square one and move up."

Gillian just sat on the couch. She couldn't afford to see Vance in the eye. She knew she was going to break. Maybe it happened this way for a reason? But if it was a good thing, why was Vance ignoring everyone? She just prayed that it turned out for the better and Evan's plan backfired. She heard everyone talking around her, but her eyes were trained at the t.v across the room. The news was on and somehow the media had gotten a hold of the fact that Cal was kidnapped. It was a frenzy in the building and the FBI were doing everything to try to get the news off the t.v. It obviously wasn't working.

Everyone filed out, talking and debating on whether to do this or that. Soon the room was empty except for two people. The door clicked as the last of person went out. The office was filled with silence once again. Neither of the two people spoke. Finally after what seemed like hours, on of them did.

"It's a lie right?" he asked. He was leaning against the wall with his arms still crossed.

She swallowed and said nothing.

Vance came over and sat across Gillian with a heavy sigh. "Your the lie detector. He lied." It sounded like he was trying to reassure himself and in a part of the universe, he was. "Right?"

Gillian remained silent.

"Dammit, !" He was on the edge and no thought in his head was straight. "Talk to me!"

Gillian swallowed. She slowly brought her eyes and met Vance. His face was red and he was breathing heavily. She could tell that he was trying hard not to break anything. "I'm..." She swore she was going to kill herself. But she couldn't live on knowing she kept a big part of his life a secret. Not after she knew and almost memorized the boy's history. "I'm sorry, Vance." Gillian bit her bottom lip. "He...he is."

Vance's lip quivered and his fists curled up. That's why Lightman was so familiar? His voice? His stance? Because he was his father? It couldn't be. He already had a kid...Lightman had a kid. His father had another kid. It was all adding up. Vance shut his eyes and clenched his fist so hard his knuckles turned white. Only one question hung in his brain. "Why?"

She knew what he was talking about. It wasn't her place to tell, but currently Cal wasn't here to do so..."He wanted to tell you at the right tim-"

"The right time? When was that?" His voice was getting higher. "He spent the past 14 years avoiding me! I never knew he even existed!" He flung the book off the table and stood up in a rush. "Did you know? Did you know that he was my dad when you were counseling me?" His gaze stopped touring around the room and turned it's attention on Gillian with an accusing glance. "Were you...did you pknow and not tell me for the fun of it?"

Gillian's eyes got wide. "What? Of course not!"

"Then why!"

"I didn't know back then!" She then realized she was yelling. Calming herself, she continued, "I didn't know that he was your dad. I just found out a couple of weeks ago." It was the truth.

Vance was breathing heavily as he turned to go out the door. But Gillian's voice put a large question in his head, one that he was pondering about himself.

"Vance...your not mad are you?" she asked quietly.

Vance stopped his hand from twisting the handle of the door. "I don't know," he almost growled. He opened the door and stormed out, leaving Gillian in his wake.

Gillian felt horrible. She was beginning to wonder if telling him was really a bad idea. What if Vance didn't want to help them find Cal? Oh my god, Cal. Was he ok? Her frustration only grew as she realized she hadn't heard of anything from DeGrow. If it was money the man wanted, he would have called by now. Inside her, there was a war erupting. Emotional and mental. She felt like bursting into tears, and she did. This was almost too much for a person to bear.

-x-

He strode out into the busy hall, ignoring all the looks. He knew they had heard his yelling. Within minutes, he was walking out of the Lightman Group and was striding to his car. Getting in, he slammed the door. He sat there, staring outside, hands on wheel and not a single emotion in his face. He yelled and slammed the wheel with his hands and the car honked, earning a few curious glances his direction. Waving them away, he breathed in and out slowly. Calming down wasn't his best area of experience. But this...this was beyond rage. Beyond just madness. He was lost. The past few weeks, he thought he'd made a new, honest friend, only to be hit in the back that the man was his own father. None of this made sense to him when Evan had told him. Now..it was coming together. Why he had the strange dreams, why he heard the voices in his sleep, why Lightman looked so familiar!

The images of the man in his dream, the face was put back together. The voice was analyzed into its throat. The scenes played back in his head. The memories came floating back. All of then at the same time, that his head started hurting. Vance closed his eyes and drowned away the tears that were threatening to fall. He won't show weakness, no. That wasn't how Carson taught him.

He turned on the engine. He knew where he needed to go.

**woot woot! :DD**


	18. Chapter 18

**my dear fellow readers, i give you my sincere apologies...LMAO! tht felt so weird...but seriously ... sorry.**

**I've been gone for a conference (it was awesome .) for a few days and i didn't have anything to write on. So i got a notebook from a frend and started brainstorming about the chapter and i had it! but as i was coming back HOME i somehow lost the paper (-_-) and so i tried to think of the excat same way i took notes on...soo...yeeeeeeeeaaa :) hehehe...mah bad...**

It was cold. That was about the only thing he could think of. The cold, damp floor that he was currently being stuffed against wasn't the best of place to be left at. Kicks were repeatedly being showered at his stomach and he had lost count after 26. His stomach was on fire, face was absolutely crunched up in pain, and hands and feet, numb. About the only thing he could feel was his tongue, and the taste of blood on it wasn't so entertaining either.

"Had enough, Lightman?" DeGrow said.

The kicks were stopped but the numbness stayed. Cal breathed heavily as he slumped against the floor, out of breath.

"I'll give you a break. I need coffee anyways." Footsteps echoed throughout the quiet room as he walked out and the door shut.

Cal coughed and spit out blood. He groaned and tried to sit up, but his tender ribs protested against it. Giving up, he slouched back onto the floor. His breathing started to regulate after taking a few deep breaths. And for the first time, the air tasted bitter sour. It made him gag but he had his empty stomach in control for now.

He looked around the room for an escape route. It was dark. There were no windows, the only way out was the door that DeGrow went out of. The only furniture in the room was a metal table which looked surgical and a chair on the far side of a corner. However, on the walls hung all different categories of weapons, knives, guns, brass knuckles. It was like being in a Saw movie. At the thought, Cal shivered. He shook his head and closed his eyes. What he needed was to focus, not think he was in a serial killing movie.

_Focus, dammit, focus!_ He said to himself.

What he needed to know was why DeGrow_ really_ wanted him. Then maybe he can figure something out with the wanker. But the question was, how? Cal needed him to think he's won, that's how.

_But that's going to be painful,_ the back of his brain lectured.

_I don't care, do you want to get out?_

So he laid still and tried to wait patiently until DeGrow came back. It didn't take long for the man to return.

In DeGrow's was a phone and a smile plastered on his face.

"Let's make a call shall we?"

-x-

"Vance! What's wrong?"

Carson stared, wide eyed at the boy standing in front of him.

Vance's eyes were red and puffy. He'd been crying. He swore to himself he would never cry, but he did. And he felt ashamed.

"Vance, talk to me," Carson said softly. His voice was full of concern but held curiosity in them.

He swallowed a took a deep breath. "C-can I come in?"

"Sure, sure." Carson led him into his office and the two sat down on the couch, opposite sides of each other. For a while no one talked, they didn't know whether to go first.

It was Vance who broke the silence. He bit his lower lip. "Can I...can I tell you something?"

Carson's eyebrow furrowed. "Sure, Vance. You can tell me anything, you know that."

He took a deep breath, and told Carson the news.

-x-

She'd been making a sandwich when she got a call on her cell. Frustrated, she picked up.

"Torres," she answered.

"Ah. The young sound of Lightman's protegé ," someone on the other side said with an eerie voice.

Ria at first, froze. The voice sent chills running down her spine. Then something clicked and she was running out of the break room and into the hallway. "Who is this?" she asked in a haste, not wanting them to hang up.

"I think you already know that."

She rocketed into the meeting room where Reynolds and a few were going over files.

"What th..."

Ria pointed to the phone and motioned him to shut up. The room was full blown active after. Ben got up and went over to listen to the conversation as the three other agents got busy taking out the tracking device.

"DeGrow," Ria said. "What is it you want?"

The was laughter on the other line. "Well I figured you want something, after all I do have your boss right next to me."

The agent motioned for the phone and Ria put it on speaker and handed it to him. He plugged the wire into the input.

"Ya? Well why don't you tell me where he is?"

He chuckled. "You know that's not going to happen."

Gillian walked in the meeting room when she saw everybody crowded around the phone. Ben mouthed 'DeGrow' and she was instantly interested.

"What's it going to take us?" Ria asked.

"Hmmm. How 'bout Lightman for my brother."

Ria glanced at Ben. He flashed surprise then frustration and shook his head.

"Not gunna happen," Ria replied slowly.

"Oh well maybe then you'll find his body in a ditch somewhere. Good Bye."

"No! Wait!" Ria's shock almost consumed her.

Ben frantically wrote something down. He passed it onto an agent who looked at it once, peeked at Ben with curious eyes, and ran out the door, phone in hand. Ben turned to Ria and nodded his head once.

"We'll...we'll give you Evan."

"Good." She could almost hear him smile. "Dr. Foster delivers him. No police, no FBI, no one. Just her, alone."

Ben spoke up for the first time. "We can't let that..."

"No. I'll do it." Gillian said from the back of the room. He statement was clear as day. Ben sighed.

"Good," DeGrow said. "I'll meet you in the back alley of Joe's Bar in two hours."

The line disconnected. The room went silent for a second or two. No one spoke, moved, or did anything. The odd silence was broken by Ben.

"Didya get where he is?" he asked the agent who was sitting in front of the table.

The man shook his head. "No, it bounced off a frequency and landed back here. This guy's good."

"Dammit," Ben cursed under his breath. He turned to Gillian and sighed. "I guess we have to get ready."

-x-

Evan DeGrow was tossing around a hacky sack when the door to his cell buzzed and soon, opened. A large, bulky looking guard came in with a grim expression. "You. Come with me." His voice wasn't a kind one, it was rough, groggy, and deep.

Evan grinned. He got up without a word and followed the guard out. The plan was going great.

-x-

"I'm going to drop you off there. The only way we're leaving, is when we have both you and Lightman in the van." Ben rattled on and on about safety precautions and other protocols.

Gillian, however, wasn't even half listening. Her mind was focused on getting Cal back to the office. Her mind drifted off into a direction that led to where Vance was. Where was he? It's been about an hour or so since he'd left, or fled, from the Lightman Group. A part of her brain told her he left for good, but another part somehow knew he wouldn't do that. She's known the kid since he was in grade school. He wouldn't do that, she knew him well enough. But she still had no clue as to where he was and she didn't really want to ask Ben to track his phone down, that would just feel plain weird.

Ben knew there was a possibility that the whole thing was a scam. He knew there was a _bigger_ chance of it being a scam. He didn't want to make Gillian do this but he knew she would just go in by herself if he said no.

Ben parked the car and got out, Gillian stayed. He walked over to the heavily wired fence and squinted through it. He saw Evan walking towards them with a goofy smile on his face and a guard next to him. Ben sighed. He kept on repeating that this whole thing was a good idea but no matter how many times he'd said it, it seemed to run out the other side of the ear.

-x-

"Get up."

A cool metal object, also known as a gun, was pushed towards his neck. With a black rag on his head, he couldn't see anything. Obeying the order like a loyal dog, he stood up, his knees wobbling. His ribs still ached and lips were busted. The metal was pushed farther, telling him to walk. He did as he was told and started walking slowly. A few steps later, going down a set of stairs, and into a few more hallways, they were outside. He could tell because of the fresh air blowing across his face. They walked a few more steps until they stopped.

"Get in the car."

Cal slowly started to get in and when he was, the door slammed. Where were they going all of the sudden? He felt the upper door open and close as well. And then without a word, the engine started.

-x-

They waited out in the cold. Just the two of them. Gillian was standing beside Evan, who was still handcuffed. They were waiting in the alley like they were told. Behind them, the FBI, including Ben, sat in the Van, looking at them through binoculars.

Waiting a couple more minutes, a black SUV with tinted windows pulled up on the other end of the alley. Ben saw it and radioed for back up. He then motioned the team lined up behind the curb.

The car stayed there. The men climbed out. One, with a black hood over his face and the other, with nothing on. Gillian realized that the man with a black hood was Cal and the other was DeGrow. Gillian moved a step forward.

"Cal," she whispered. His clothes looked ragged and dirty. His voice snapped to her voice but he couldn't see.

That's when all hell broke loose.

The FBI came swarming in from behind Gillian and had their guns raised. Gillian glanced to see DeGrow's reaction, and what she saw, wasn't something she'd except. He was smiling. And soon, they knew why.

From above, behind, in front, gunshots rang out. But they weren't from the FBI. They were DeGrow's men. The agents on the ground did their best to fight them off. But one by one, they fell. The randomized gunshots ricocheted off the brick walls and created a chaos. Gillian hit the floor to avoid the shots and the small cubes of brick showering down. Her ears were ringing. She couldn't hear accurately. Suddenly, she was being pulled up and before she could do anything, a wet rag was put under her nose and she felt herself beginning to fade away.

**well tht took a while! dam...im a slow writer haha :)**


	19. Chapter 19

**so srping break ppl! XDDD having so much fun...hehehe**

"Is that...is that true?" Carson asked.

The two were still in his office. When Carson heard the news that Cal was Vance's father, he was flooded with multiple emotions. Shock, surprise, a sense of relief, sadness, confusion, fear, disgust, and most of all, anger, rage blinding anger.

Vance looked down at his hands again, trying not to shed a tear. "Yea." He sighed. "Dr. Foster doesn't lie..." But then, she lied. She lied at first about not knowing who his father was. Or maybe she really didn't know back then...

Carson tried very hard not to yell or shout or scream or anything. To him, Vance was like his own son. Although he did have two other sons, Vance was kind of different. Sometimes he would feel guilty for caring and thinking for Vance more than his two kids. But the sight of finding Vance there, in the middle of the darkened street, alone, all those years ago, made him want to break the man who did that to him. He swore to himself that week that if he ever found the man who made the boy go through all that trouble, he would beat the living shit out of him. Now, in his mid 60's, that thought hadn't changed. Not a bit. But the fact that that man was Cal Lightman, the lie detector, the one who was Gillian's best friend, the one who seemed honest and full of _trust_, put an uneasy fact to his head. He looked up to see Vance's eyes closed and his lower lip quivering. Carson glanced sympathetically and got up and sat next to him. He put an arm around Vance's shoulder and Vance leaned his head on Carson's neck. Carson heard him quietly whimpering.

"Sh...It's ok," was about the only thing he could say.

A quiet buzzing interrupted an up coming silence. Vance wiped his eyes and took out his phone. He read the message and frowned.

_'Come to the Lightman Group. Hurry.' _The message was from Ben.

-x-

"He what?" Vance shouted.

The building was in a frenzy after what had happened. Five minutes after Ben had texted him, Vance ran in the front doors of the Lightman Group, only to be told from the receptionist that most everybody, including Ben, had gone to the hospital. So driving like a kid who just got his license, he sped into the street. Within minutes, he was rocketing through the E.R. and was currently standing in front of Ben, who wiping blood off his face. Other then the blood on his cheek, he seemed to be in shape.

"He took her," Ben said with a furrowed face.

"And how the hell did he do that?" Vance raged on. He wasn't going to deny, Gillian wasn't his top ten favorite people right now, but he still cared for her.

"I...I don't know!" Honestly, Ben was furious, with himself. Damn! He should have seen the men up there. Shit!

Vance took a deep breath. Millions of thoughts were roaming around free in his mind. "Okay," he tried to calm down. "We'll...we'll find both of them. It'll just take some extra time."

Ben glanced up at the boy. He sighed and nodded.

-x-

Gillian plopped down onto the floor with a yelp. The blindfold was ripped off her and she squinted in the light. She heard something being dropped next to her. Someone took off the ropes that were around her hand tightly and threw them to the floor. Gillian had adjusted to the light and was currently rubbing her red hands. She heard the door slam and silence followed. She had taken one breath when she heard it.

"Gill?"

That voice. The voice she was so familiar with, instantly warmed her cores.

"Cal?" That word was her life-line.

Scuffle. "Gillian!"

She felt herself being pulled in and next, she felt warms arms surrounding her, pulling her close.

"Gill," he whispered. He couldn't believe she was here. He pulled back at arms length and took a while to take in her beautiful feature. "What are you doing here?"

Gillian swallowed. He looked...beaten up. His hair was sticking out into different places and a bruise started to form above his right eye. "I don't...I don't know." She looked down.

Cal cursed. "He told me..." DeGrow had promised not to hurt Gillian if he came here. That lying son of a bitch.

Gillian looked up at Cal. "Who told you what, Cal?"

"Nothing." He smiled as though reassuring her."

Gillian's eyebrow furrowed and she crossed her arms. "What is it, Cal?"

Cal sighed. There was no point in lying to her now. "DeGrow told me that if I didn't come to him, he would...he would hurt you."

Gillian stared at him in amazement for a while. He would do that for her? Risk his own life? 'Of course he would!' Her mind nearly yelled. 'You would too!' She bit her trembling lip and pulled him in for a hug. "Oh Cal. You know he couldn't of hurt me. We were surrounded by the police."

Cal closed his eyes. "I know...but he has his ways, Gill."

The door crashed open with a bang. Cal and Gillian pulled apart and turned to see who it was. DeGrow stepped in with three other men and a smile taped on his face.

-x-

"Do you think we should tell her parents or something?" Ben asked.

Vance stopped pacing around the room and sighed. "No. Let's not alert anyone. We just need a plan and figure out where the hell they are before we do anything."

Ben nodded. "Alright."

There was a knock on the door. A man poked his head in the office.

"Yes?" Vance said.

"I got the files you were asking for, sir," he replied.

Vance motioned him to put it down. "Bring it on in."

The man opened the door with his back, and plopped down the box of files onto Vance's desk.

"Thank you."

The man nodded and exited, closing the door behind. Vance picked up a file and tossed it to Ben.

"Time to start studying."

-x-

Gregory was in his office back at his town. It was a nice feeling to be back at his building. It was quite a unique trip he had at Vegas and he only hoped Gillian was doing ok with Cal. The family was doing ok, in fact they were still full of excitement from their trip. Danny, his wife, and the kids were planning on staying with them for a while. It was a good idea, and Greg hadn't hesitated to say yes, since having the kids around would cheer the place up a bit. After all, with only him and Carol in that big house, it was bound to be quiet.

He stopped typing, leaned back, and relaxed. He shut his eyes for a moment and enjoyed the solid string of quiet...which was rudely interrupted by his phone ringing. Groaning, he picked up.

"Yes?"

"Gregory," the voice greeted.

His world came to a stop. His eyes were big like saucers and he stood up. With an unmistakable voice, he uttered, "DeGrow?"

-x-

"Make sure to run the plate...alright...fine, give me a call back as soon as it's done," Ben shut the phone.

"What was that about?" Vance asked.

The two were looking through another box of files for the past two hours. They hadn't found anything. It was like being back at the hotel, searching for where the orphanage was.

Ben put the phone back in his pocket. "Eh, some agent said he might have seen the license plate. He's running it through the system right now."

Vance nodded and looked back onto the file he was reading.

There was yet again another knock.

"Yes?" Vance called out.

A young woman came in. "Sir, someone called you and is on the line."

Vance raised an eyebrow. "Did he give you a name?"

She shook her head.

Vance sighed. "What line?"

"2."

Vance got up and picked up his office phone. "Thanks," he told the woman.

She smiled and went back out.

Vance picked up the phone, pressed 2 and put the phone next to his ear. "Vance Pierce speaking."

"Vance! Where the hell is Gillian?"

Vance's jaw nearly hit the floor and Ben could see something was up. "G-Greg?"

**i hope everyone whose on break is having fun ! ...cause break dont last for much longa ^^ and for those who ARNT on break, i hope u study hard :) **


	20. Chapter 20

**soo...anyone else hear that ltm got cancelled? :(((((**

**NOOOOOOOOOO!**

"Mind telling me what's going on?"

Vance searched frantically for an answer that Greg wasn't going to kill him over. "Uh...Eh...Well the thing is..."

"Where is she, Vance!" Greg shouted.

"Probably at the Lightman Group." His sentence ended in more of a question.

"Then why in the world did I get a call from DeGrow saying he had her and Cal?"

Vance's jaw flung open. Oh no, DeGrow called him. What else did he say to Greg? "That's...Greg, look why don't you come in and we'll-"

"You bet I'm coming in. I'm heading over to your office right now!"

He sighed. "I'll see you in a few minutes."

Vance shut the cell and turned around to look at Ben whose expression was along the edge of horrified and frantic. "Greg?"

Vance nodded and ran a hand through his ruffled hair. "DeGrow must have a death wish or something."

It was Ben's turn to nod. "After we found out where the hell he is and what he wants, I'm going to kill him."

"You can count me in on that."

-x-

Gillian and Cal were shoved onto a chair which were tried together. A man held them down as the other tied their hands in front of them. Cal grunted and tried to get away from them but they were already done with both of them before he could do anything. DeGrow found his way back in front of the couple and he stood there, hands behind his back and smiling.

"I'm going to need something from you," DeGrow said, looking at Cal.

Cal glared back at him and snarled. "Then let her go."

Laughing, DeGrow said, "Ahh you still don't get it do you?" DeGrow crouched down. "Your not going to get out of here. Ever."

Cal continued to glare at him straight in the eye. He wanted to bite the guy's head right off the shoulders. Taking him was fine, but Gillian...that was a bad move. Cal could tell Gillian was trying her best to keep a straight poker face. Her eyes were shining as bright as the stars thanks to the tears threatening to fall but Cal couldn't do anything about it. He wanted to reach out and tell her everything would be ok but currently, he was all tied up, and so was she. And before her could open his mouth again, a duct tape rudely found its way into trapping his and Gillian's mouth. He saw DeGrow picking up a syringe and a second later, he blacked out.

-x-

The door nearly flew off it's hinges as it opened with a bang. A very furious looking Gregory stood by the door, his face red as a plum. Vance and Reynolds looked up and their mouths dropped. Both stood up quickly as Greg stomped over to Vance.

"Listen, Greg, I can explain this..." Vance started.

Greg shoved his phone at Vance who stumbled to catch it. Vance glanced at the screen and looked back up at Greg who said, "Listen to it."

Vance curiously put the phone next to his ear.

_'I have your daughter, Greg.' _DeGrow...

_'What?' _Vance winced.

_'Tell Vance to call me- ah ah ah never mind, I'll just call him myself.'_

After a moment of silence, _'Whay did you call me, DeGrow?'_

Laugh. _'Well I was bored and thought you might want to be informed about where your daughter is.' _

The line clicked to an end.

"Did you record this?" Vance asked, not sure whether to be happy DeGrow was going to call him or not.

"Yes, I did," Greg spat. He took the phone from Vance's hand and shoved it back in his pocket. "I told the rookie to trace it and it bounced off from fifteen different locations."

"This guys a pro," Reynolds muttered from the couch.

"Yea," said Greg. "So, mind telling me where the hell my daughter is?"

"Uhm..." Vance scratched his head. "Dr. Foster is..."

Greg's patience dropped to negative zero. "Vance!"

"She got taken away!" Vance shouted, losing his sense of thinking.

Greg's mouth dropped. "It was true?...but...how?"

Vance sighed. He didn't exactly know what was going on so he let Reynolds take over. "We were...we were making a trade. Lightman for Evan ... and things got out of hand and Gillian was taken."

Greg's face was emotionless for a while, then it turned to shock. He stumbled to the couch and took a seat in front of Reynolds. "Why..."

"I'm sorry, Greg." Reynolds said. "We can still get them you know, all we need is a..."

"You don't get it, Ben," Greg said in silent torment. "If DeGrow sets his mind to it, he would kill anyone in a snap. That's how dangerous he is."

This made Vance think of Lightman. Would he care if his now-found-out-dad died right before his eyes? In a part of the world, Vance said to himself he really didn't care what happened to the man that abandoned him. But the other part told him that Cal Lightman was his _biological dad_, flesh and blood. Maybe even pretending to be his son for once wouldn't hurt so bad.

-x-

When Cal came to, he was seemingly alone. The walls, however seemed to be moving. Shaking his head and clearing his mind, he focused on what was happening. There were three walls in front of him, and the middle one had an odd line crossing through...he was in a van. Luckily, blindfolds weren't blinding his vision, however binds were tied up on his wrist and ankle, as well as the duct tape from the previous meeting with DeGrow. He looked back to see two people in the seat in front of his, one seemed to be driving and the other just sat there. He could tell it wasn't Evan or DeGrow. Groaning, he lifted his heavy torso and slumped up against the wall of the vehicle. As he stared into darkness, one question came to mind. If he was here, where was Gillian?

-x-

Gillian woke up a similar way to Cal, except for the fact that she wasn't bound of duct taped. She too soon realized that a moving van was caring her. Where to, she had no idea. When Gillian tried to move and sit upright, her elbows gave way and she found herself lying on the carpeted floor.

-x-

"What do you mean?" Reynolds said to Greg.

Greg sighed before replying. "To DeGrow, this life is like a whole game. If the character gets uninteresting, he gets rid of them. He see's whose capable of doing some sort of action, he see's why they would do it. Before DeGrow worked at the Pentagon, he did a lot of crazy stunts. I'm amazed the Pentagon didn't find that them when he was working."

"Well what did he do?" Reynolds asked.

After a moment, Greg replied, "He would dump two people in the middle of no where and see if they survived."

-x-

The van slowed down and Cal felt it being pulled back. a minute later, the van jerked and the door opened.

-x-

Gillian and almost fully conscious when the car door burst open and she was dragged out. Then she saw Cal, in a much worse state then her and she got ready to run to him. The plan failed when the man grabbed her by the arms and pulled her tightly. At least that got Cal to stare in that direction and see them. Cal saw just in time to see the man stick the syringe into Gillian's neck and a second later, she was limp in his arms. This made Cal furious. From behind the two vans, Evan showed up. He smiled. "Have fun." Then he nodded to the men holding the two of them and they pulled on Cal and an unconcious Gillian until they came to the edge of a cliff. Cal looked down and saw nothing but the raging roaring water and rocks. Before he knew it, he was being plummeted down into the pit of hell.


	21. Chapter 21

**haha...i hope netflix continues ltm...if tht can ever happen...D::**

"Well we need to find them then!" Reynolds nearly shouted.

"Maybe they'll give us a call first, you never know..." Vance said from the back.

And like magic, Vance's phone rang.

-x-

Evan smiled as he looked down the cliff. He saw a splash and Cal and Gillian were no where in sight. Laughing, he pulled out his cell as he re entered the car from the passenger seat. He waved to the driver and the car started. Evan dialed a number he knew by mind and put his phone to his ear.

-x-

"Hello?" Vance anwsered.

"Vance! How nice to talk to you again!"

"Evan?" Shock etched his voice.

Reynolds was up at his feet right when Vance said the name. Greg snapped his neck to see Vance's expression.

"Well least you remember my name."

Vance's expression raised in anger. "Where's Lightman and Foster," he said, ignoring the question in the statement.

There was a low laugh from the other line that made Vance want to punch the bastard. "Well, let's just say that there struggling for air."

"What? Ev-" The line went dead. "Dammit!" he yelled as he slammed the phone down.

"What happened?" Gregory asked. "Are they ok?"

Vance sighed and ran a hand through his ruffled hair. "I don't know. But we need to find them, fast. Jennifer!"

A second later a young woman peaked her head through the door. "Yes sir?"

"Get every guy that's not on a specific case and have them go through every file, watch every video, listen to every bit of a recording we have of DeGrow and his asshole of a brother." By the time Vance finished, he sounded more than furious.

Confused, but not asking a thing, she said, "Alright sir." Turning back, she closed the door behind her.

Reynolds put his hands on his hips. "What are _we_ going to do? I mean, we can't just hang around."

"_We _are going to try this the old fashion way, looking for them on foot."

-x-

The water engulfed them whole. Cal had enough sense of brain cells to know that Gillian wasn't conscious. However, if he was going to get her to breathe fresh oxygen again, he had to get himself free. So pulling on the plastic bonds that bounded his hands, he gritted his teeth and focused his vision on Gillian who seemed beautiful even when she was underwater. Cal rubbed the binds together but that wasn't working.

-x-

The three came across the alley way where Gillian was taken. The police tapes were ripped off the center of the buildings and it looked abandoned like before. Pieces of cigarettes lay on the floor, as well as gum wrappers. Small left over paper scraps invaded the corners and the wind blew them to different places.

"I was standing right here," Reynolds gestured. "Then the guns went off from up there." he pointed to the roof top.

"So DeGrow planned this out," Vance commented.

Reynolds nodded. "We had investigators up there, looking for any kind of evidence the people might have left by but it was clean."

"Damn..."

Reynolds excused himself as his phone buzzed inside his pocket. Greg turned to Vance. "Should I tell Carol?"

"No," was his immediate answer. "Let's just...wait for a while. See how things turn out. Then we'll decide if we're going to tell anyone else."

"Alright..."

"How did you get here so fast?" Vance asked, a question that was bugging his mind for a while.

"I have a friend who owes me a favor. He happened to know a few guys who had transportation to Washington," Greg replied, and as far as Vance could tell, he was telling the truth.

Reynold came back, pocketing his phone. "Well they might know where DeGrow's been keeping Cal and Gillian but at this point, they're not sure."

Vance sighed. His pocket made an odd sound as it received a message.

_'What place has warm sand, tiny rocks, cliffs, beautiful views, is far away from Washington, close to San Fransisco, starts with M, and very very cold weather? When you get there, call me. -Evan'_

"Who is is?" Reynolds asked looking at Vance's expression.

"Evan," he said is a confused voice. "'What place had warm sand, tiny rocks, cliffs, beautiful views, is far away from Washington, close to San Fransisco, starts with M, and very very cold weather?'"

Silence erupted through the three. The silence which Greg broke. "What could this mean?"

"Maybe he's keeping Cal and Gillian there?" Reynolds thought aloud.

"Close to San Fransisco, far from Washington, warm sand... Monterey!" Vance realized with hope. "He dropped the two off somewhere in Monterey! And if what Greg said about DeGrow and his brother is right, they could be in serious trouble!"

-x-

He furiously looked around and saw a group of rocks with sharp edges behind him, stuck to the cliff. Pushing himself towards them, he turned around and rubbed the plastic against the rock. Feeling the plastic getting weaker, he went faster but yelled out as hard as water would let him when he slipped and the rock made a deep cut in his hands. But, the plastic came free. Cal smiled in satisfaction. However, he felt lightheaded and he knew it was because of the lack of oxygen. He ripped the duct tape off his mouth and tore the plastic from his ankles in a hurry, not caring about the red marks that was left on his hands. Cal pushed through the water, got Gillian in his arms and swam and swam. Right when he thought he was about to pass out, he jumped up and was met by fresh air around them. Grinning, Cal put his arms around Gillian, who was still unconscious, and swam to the right until they reached the edge of the cliff which had flat surfaced rocks surrounding it. He put one hand on the rocks, braced himself, and pushed himself and Gillian up with a yell at the small rocks digging into his cut palm. Regaining his breath and not wasting a single second, he tried his best not to drag Gillian on the uneven rocks. He started feeling dizzy. But Cal shook himself and made sure Gillian was safely away from the water. Right when he let her down onto the cold rocks, he passed out.

-x-

The plane landed and the seat belt sign turned off. Vance, Greg, and Reynolds had taken a flight to Monterey, the fastest one there was, and they were in a hurry to get off. As soon as his feet touched the ground, Vance sprinted to the nearest exit, Greg and Reynolds still trying to get out. Running out to the front entrance, he spotted a taxi. Vance ran to the driver's side and tapped the glass.

"Yes?" the driver said in a sleepy tone.

Vance flashed his badge. "I need this car. Can you please step out." It wasn't exactly a question.

The driver took one look at the badge and without a word, he stepped out. Vance thanked the man and got in. He saw Greg and Reynolds run out and he honked the horn. Both of them seemed to see him, for they ran in the car.

"Where...How far is the beach?" An out of breath Greg asked.

"Not far," Vance replied as he swerved the car into traffic. "Just a couple of minutes from here." Vance turned his car into the main highway and groaned. Cars packed the roads. They came at the wrong time of day.

"A couple of minutes!" Reynolds sighed. "At this rate, we'd be lucky to get anywhere in a couple of hours!"

Vance bit the bottom of his lip. "Call Evan."

Sighing again, Reynolds took out his phone. "Why?"

"Just call him and give me the phone."

Reynolds dialed his number and put the phone next to Vance's ear who took it in his hands.

After a couple of rings, "Hello?"

"Evan."

"Ahh...Vance! So, did you find out where I put them?"

"Yes I did, we're here right now."

Evan chuckled. "Already? Well I guess that's why they don't let you in the CIA if you can't get to Monterey from Washington in less then an two hour."

Vance ignored that. "You told me to call you. I'm guessing it's because your going to tell me exactly where they are."

"You guessed right." There was some noise in the background before Evan continued. "Well it's simple really. The place I left them where water surrounds air." The line went dead.

"Dammit!" Vance said as he tossed the phone onto the front in frustration. "He threw them into the ocean!"

"Oh no..." Greg said, mostly to himself. He couldn't believe this was happening to his daughter.

Vance took one last look at the traffic in front of them and an idea floated his mind. "Make sure you have you seat belt on."

"What?" Reynolds asked.

Without further question, Vance rapidly turned the car to the right, barely missing the phone poll.

"Vance!" Greg yelled.

Not answering, Vance drove the car onto the shoulder of the road ignoring the beeps and yells of angry citizens. They were going to get to the two in time.

-x-

Cough. Blink. Cough. Focus. Gillian groaned as she moved her aching muscles to move. Getting herself in a sitting position, she shut her eyes for a long time and reopened them again. It was bright out, and cold. Really cold. It took a minute for her to realize that water crashed onto the rock she was sitting on and sprayed droplets of water onto her. Maybe DeGrow dropped them off here for no apparent reason? The last thing she remembered was getting out of the van and seeing Cal before everything went black. Her head still wasn't clear enough to think straight. If she was here...Cal must be too.

Not a second before turning her head to look for Cal had her eyes laid upon a figure with its lower body still danging in water. She eyes widened in haste as she figured out who it was.

"Cal!" Gillian came to her knees as she scrambled to where he was, not far from her. She reached forward and turned him over so he was on his back. When she saw the blood covering both his hands, she got worried. "Cal," she tapped his cheek. "Cal, can you hear me?" she asked as she feared the worst. This can't be happening. Please!

Relief flooded back into her as he moved his head to one side and coughed. Gillian stayed back and tapped his back. Groaned, Cal turned around again. "Gillian. Are you okay?"

"Me?" Gillian said with a small smile at his concern. "I wasn't the one who was out cold."

"Well not right now anyways," Cal muttered to himself.

Cal picked himself up with the help of Gillian. "So..." Gillian started. "What happened?"

Cal sighed before saying, "Evan pushed us down a cliff."

Gillian sighed too. She motioned to his hands. "What happened to your hand?"

Confused for a second, Cal glanced down and saw the blood and cursed himself mentally. "It's nothing. I just got a cut. That's all."

"We have to get you to a doctor, Cal. That could get infected..."

Cal laughed. "I'm alright, Luv." He looked around. "We just need to get out of here."

Then, they heard a voice.

-x-

"Slow down!" Reynolds shouted.

One last swerve and the car skidded to a stop. The three could here police sirens ringing all behind them. Vance however, completely ignored the law and ran out of the car, looking down the cliff on his knees. "There here!" he shouted to the two barely getting out of the car. Then he turned back down to Gillian and Cal. He was so glad to see them again! "Dr. Foster! Lightman!" At this point, he forgot about the fact that Lightman was his dad.

-x-

"You hear that?" Cal asked Gillian.

Gillian strained to hear but she heard it clear as day, especially when it was so loud. She looked up. "Vance!" But she heard another thing. Sirens.

-x-

"Sir, sir put you hands above your head and move away from the cliff. Now."

Vance turned his head to see who it was, but he already knew the answer. So turning around he said, "Look, there are two people down there, and they need medical attention." He moved to grab his badge from his inside pocket but the police officer raised his gun.

"Put your hands above you head and move away!" His words were clear and tight.

Vance glanced around to see Reynolds putting his hands on top of the car and the officers searching him and Gregory doing the same.

"Look, I'm with the FBI. Look in me inside pocket, my badge is in there," Vance told the man.

The officer motioned to his partner and another man came forward and searched him. Taking out his badge, he look at it. "He's telling the truth."

Finally, the officer let the gun down. "Sir, what are you doing here?"

Taking his badge back, Vance answered, "I'm on a case and there are two people down there that need your attention!" Vance tried not to shout in his frustration but failed.

Several officers looked down the cliff and got to work.

More sirens erupted through the air as ambulance and firetrucks arrived. As soon as Gillian and Cal were back up, they were immediately taken to the hospital. Vance only had a glimpse of them before the door to the van closed.

Reynolds walked over to Vance. "Well...I guess their all right," he said.

"Ya, but we still need to find DeGrow," Vance answered.

"True." Ben smiled. "But we got our people back."

"Yea..." Vance said thinking about Cal. "Yea, we did."

**soo! its not the end! :) hehe...i feel like im dragging this story on to much...but! there are pretty exciting things to look forward too! :) haha...maybe not...idk...probably...haha**


	22. Chapter 22

**sorryyy! ^^ theres only gunna be one more chapter after this one, being summer n all and odly im more busy in the summer then i am wen i go to school! :) haha...i don't have much time on the computer as i did so im gunna finish this one off and leave u all in peace ^^**

"You feeling alright?"

Gillian looked up in half surprise and half relief. "Vance! W-what? Oh yea."

Vance, who was leaning on the door frame, picked up weight and walked over to her. "You know, Reynolds and I pulled quite a few strings to get here in time...I'm glad your alright." He stared at the corner of the room where Greg sat, sleeping.

Smiling, Gillian answered, "'Thanks Vance."

"No problem."

She could tell he was trying hard not to ask her something. His lips were twitching ever so slightly and he was swallowing a lot more than usual. However, Gillian could tell what he was going to ask before he got around to actually saying it.

"Cal doesn't know. I didn't get the chance to tell him." She dropped her gaze in half shame and guilt.

A moment passed before anyone said a word. "Alright." Honestly, Vance didn't know what else to say. He would just pretend he didn't know what was going on. Just telling Cal would complicate things even more and right now, that was the last thing they needed.

A doctor poked his head in and knocked. With a smile, he said, "Ms. Foster, I'm afraid you need to be getting as much rest as possible." He glanced at Vance. "It would be best if we could keep they talking to a minimum."

Understanding, Vance told her he'd be back to see her later and turned.

"You should go see him," Gillian suggested.

Vance glanced at her to see her smiling at him. Nodding, he went out to the nearly stranded, white corridor.

-x-

"I don't need bloody morphine!" Cal shouted. "What I need is to get the hell off this damn bed!"

He was struggling against a couple of nurses and a doctor. He's been stuck there for an hour, they had bandaged up his hands and was now currently trying to get him to lay back and rest. However, resting was the farthest of things he was currently doing. Sitting up as straight as he could, he was waving around and shouting on the top of his lungs, demanding that he were to be able to see Gillian.

Reynolds, at first, tried to help the nurses and get it through the thick skull of his that he needed to rest, however, when Cal resisted for a whole thirty minutes, he grabbed himself a chair from the back and sat down, sure that Cal would exhaust himself.

That had not been the case.

Another thirty minutes had swiftly passed and yet Cal was still wailing like the small child he truly was.

It wasn't until the door re-opened and Vance stepped in, that Cal managed to shut himself up.

"She's alright. They're getting her to sleep," Vance said in the most calmest voice he could manage. When he was outside the door, he didn't think it would be so hard to face his dad for the first time since he'd known in years. But now that he was staring at him, tears were threatening to form but he pushed them far back in his mind, telling himself that right now was not the time.

No body seemed to notice his eyes tearing up but Cal studied him a little longer than usual.

Suddenly becoming a master of expressions himself, Vance closed himself up, putting on a rather dashing smile. He turned to the nurses and doctor. "Would you please excuse us for a couple of minutes? Government business."

Hesitant at first, they nodded and left the room. As the door closed, Vance glanced at Reynolds than shifted his gaze to Cal. He grabbed himself a chair and sat down nest to the bed. "You okay?"

"Yea." At this point, Cal was more than proud of his son. Although, he was concerned when he found he couldn't read him suddenly.

"Great...You good enough to tell us what happened?"

Cal started told them starting from Vegas, but instead of telling the two of them it was for Gillian's safety, he said he drank too much and the next thing he knew, he ended up in the back of the van.

"...No more alcohol for Lightman," Reynolds muttered under his breath.

Ignoring his remark, Cal continued, finally ending up at their current position. "...and so they won't let me bloody go see Gillian!"

"You'll be able to see her in a few minutes, calm down."

Reynolds' phone rang at that moment. "Hello?" His face lit up. "Already? Thanks, I'll call back in a few minutes." And as if the chair he was currently occupying was on fire, he jumped up, nearly hitting his head on the curved stand-up lamp. "I have got the best news on the history of Earth!" he shouted in a very, unlike- Reynolds way.

Two pairs of eyes continued to stare at Reynolds as if he was mental. Raising an eyebrow, Cal spoke up, "Well what is it?"

"I've got a track on the truck Evan was driving when he dumped you two into the ocean!"

"H-how did you manage that?" Vance asked with increasing curiosity. "As I recall we arrived there_ after_ Evan left."

Reynolds was beaming by now. "Well you see, I've got a friend who happens to live in Monterrey and I asked him if he could put a tracker on a certain van!" At Vance's quizzical look he added, "He's a cop."

Vance nodded and moments of silence followed, broken after a while by Cal, who said, "Well what are we waiting for?" He flung the bed sheets off and swung his feet to the ground. "Let's go!" He said as a matter-of-factly.

"Whoa whoa whoa," Vance said as he pushed Cal back into bed. "You're not goin' anywhere 'till you're cleared by the doctor."

"That could take forever!"

"Then we'll wait forever!"

Forever didn't seem to take long. The next morning, Cal and Gillian were both discharged and the five of them, Greg included, were in a hummer, following the GPS which led to where DeGrow and Evan were, which luckily, wasn't that far away.

Gillian was sitting in the back along with her dad and Cal. From her angle, she could see Vance and wondered if he had mentioned to Cal about being his son. But Cal didn't seem to mind talking to Vance and Vance replied to everything he asked, however not without hesitation to thinking. With a mental sigh, she realized Vance didn't ask or tell Cal anything.

She was glad Cal was okay, although he still looked beaten up a little. The doctors fixed him up pretty good. He was no longer wincing while hugging her and his smile got currently brighter. She remembered the time in Vegas when she found out he had vanished. The very thought brought tear to her eyes and she wiped the memory away.

Vance's phone started ringing. With him driving, Reynolds picked it up for him.

"Agent Pierce's phone."

There was silence in the car.

Vance glanced over at Reynolds whose eyes were wide as saucers. "Oi," he whispered to Reynolds. "What's goin' on."

Gillian tried to hear what all the fuss was about but being seated behind Reynolds and not being able to look at his face, she couldn't.

Cal however, seated behind Vance, got a clear shot of him. He saw horror in his face, as well as fear, and he wondered why. Did something go wrong?

Not a minute later, Reynolds put the phone back into the cradle.

Vane once again glanced over. "Well?" he asked, somewhat impatient.

Reynolds gulped. The words he was about to say weren't exactly something they wanted to hear.

"They've got Germone."


	23. Chapter 23

**last chapter! i spent the WHOLE ENTIRE FRIGGIN DAY WRITING THIS! :D those of you who stayed with me during the very beginning, i love you o.O haha...ty sooo much for the support and encouragements! XD**

Reynolds' words echoed throughout the small surrounding.

_'They've got Germone.'_

Vance almost bumped into the car in front of him. He turned his gaze to Reynolds. "They have_ who_?"

Reynolds looked at his feet. "Your boss," he said, in almost a whisper, making everyone strain their ears to hear.

The quietness increased significantly. The shock was evident in their ears. It was Cal who broke the silence.

"Do they know that we know that we know where they are?" he asked.

"Probably. DeGrow said, 'See you soon', then hung up..."

The silenced stretched into a spiral of confusion.

"Wait, he knows we're going to where he is?" Grey spoke up from the back.

"Yea."

Vance hit the steering wheel with his palm. He cursed loudly. "What else did he say?"

"He said he had Germone and that they rigged the place so if we don't show up in twenty minutes, the place is gunna blow up with Germone in it."

Vance swore loudly. "Ben, where the hell are they right now?"

Reynolds looked down onto his GPS. "There in an apartment in San Francisco. It's an old beat-down apt. Not many people live there. But it's right in the middle of a busy street."

"Have they moved at all in the past ten minutes?"

"No."

"Call the SFPD and have them evacuate everyone within 50 feet of that building."

"I'm on it."

The car shot past the traffic as if it were a bullet.

-x-

Vance came around the apartment in just five minutes. Reynolds was right, it was an old beaten place. It was hard to imagine anyone living there. The street however was crowded with people. He can see the policemen working the lines as they pulled up.

"Gillian, Greg, stay in the car." Vance turned to look at Cal. But before he could say anything, Cal beat him to it.

"I'm going with you two," Cal said as a matter of factly. "You're going to need someone to see whether someone's lying, right?" That was not totally true. Cal just wanted to go because he needed to know if Vance was going to be safe.

Vance looked to Reynolds for help, but when the agent shrugged, he sighed. "We'll bring them out before it blows. You can question him them alright?" He grabbed his personal piece and shoved it in the back of his belt. He went out before Cal could say another word.

Cal was about to protest but thought better of it, knowing he won't be able to get past the policemen without a badge.

As they were going out, Gillian grabbed Cal by the wrist, barely caring he dad was in there with them. "It'll be okay." she said with a concerning look.

Cal strained a smiled. "I hope so."

As the two walked up to the crowd of bustling people, a young uniformed policeman ran up to them, in his hands carrying three bullet vests. "Agent Reynolds?" Ben nodded. "I talked to you on the phone. I'm officer Kendall." He handed them each a vest, discarding the last one onto the cruiser next to them.

"Are you almost done getting everyone out?" Vance asked the man while fastening the familiar vest.

Officer Kendall nodded. "We believe the apartment you're looking for is on the fifth floor." He glanced at his notebook. "Apartment e5."

"Damn bastard took the highest floor," Vance muttered under his breath.

Kendall opened the door for them as they came about the front entrance. "We're going to have to use the stairs. Procedure."

As the three of them jogged up the stairs, they could see uniformed officers at every floor. By the time they got up to the fifth floor, they were exhausted. Their breaths came out in short gasps.

Vance glanced at his watch. "We got twelve minutes."

Reynolds nodded. The three positioned themselves next to the door of c5. Other officers were behind them as they stood with guns at the ready.

"DeGrow!" Vance shouted. "Open the door! It's the Police!"

When there was no answer, Vance mouthed the numbers.

'One.'

Reynolds shifted.

'Two.'

Vance swiped the sweat from his brow.

'Three.'

_Bang._

Vance kicked the door open and he and Reynolds ran in, guns trained in front of them.

Then all hell broke loose.

Gun shots rang out through every corner of the building. The windows shattered and wallpapers ripped through the impact of the bullets.

-x-

Cal watch from the ground, glass shattered from the highest floor. He swallowed unevenly, hoping that everything was okay.

-x-

Vance staggered back as a bullet lodged itself into his vest. However, a hot, blinding, familiar pain shot up his shoulder and leg as a second bullet pierced his left arm and thigh. He thanked God that he was wearing black, or Reynolds would have seen the blood and pulled him out. Biting back the pain, he moved on, doing his best not to limp.

"DeGrow! Evan!" Reynolds shouted as the gun shots seized. The two could hear the shuffling of feet behind them, signaling the officers entered the room.

A very shocking scene awaited them as they went deeper inside the apartment. Where they supposed a dinning table would be, Germone sat there, tied to a chair. He was shaking his head, as if trying to stay awake. But other than his ruffled hair and shirt, he seemed to be very well, untouched.

Vance walked forward, carefully, checking the floor for anything rigged. When he got to Germone, he got down on his good leg and shook his shoulder. "Germone."

Germone's head shot up. "Vance," he said. "Thank god your here. Untie me, will you? I can't feel my hands."

Reynolds motioned for the officers standing behind and they stepped forward and got to untying him.

As the officers worked on untying Germone, he leaned forward and breathed in hard.

Vance looked at him, concerned. "You okay? What did they do to you?"

Germone sighed. "They started questioning me and all. I really don't know what I told them, forgot."

"How long they had you for?"

"I don't know...two, three days?" He breathed out heavily.

Vance nodded. He looked at the officers to see if they were done, but the two officers were still trying to cut the thick rope.

"Vance."

Vance looked down to see a different glint in Germone's eyes. He couldn't quite put a finger on it but it was... unlike Germone.

"I got to tell you something." His voice was dropped in a whisper. Vance was sure he was the only one who could hear. "There's no bomb in here. It was all a fake. And they haven't a grudge against Lightman."

Vance furrowed his brows. "What?" His frown showed now. "This whole thing started because they wanted Cal dead. What are you talking about?"

Germone looked around, as if waiting for a ghost to pop out. "It wasn't them." The police officers finally got the binding off. Germone gave a breath of relief and stood up. He was on his feet for five seconds before stumbling. Vance caught him just in time.

"Who was it?" Vance asked. He was more than confused.

Germone smiled, a very creepy kind of smile. "It was me."

Then all of the sudden Vance's stomach burst into pain. Frozen to the stop, he didn't know what to do. He didn't hear a gunshot, or anything at all for that matter. But the pain was there, the hot, searing, white, blinding pain was there. He slowly looked down, just in time to see Germone's hand pull away from beneath the vest, a knife coated in blood in his hands.

Germone leaned forward and whispered. "He took everything away from me when he told _my_ boss about what I was planning on doing about a bombing that went wrong. That's one reason why he left the Pentagon on his own two feet. I had to work my way up from rock bottom. The day before he left, he was supposed to come report to me...then I saw a boy." He smiled. "And I thought 'what better way is there to pain a man then to take is own son away.' So I took you and brought you to the Pentagon. I knew he would never step foot there again. But I guess when you turned against me, my plan was failing. You started asking about your dad and I was sure I erased your memories of him. So I set out to kill him. But since your his son, that'll do better."

Vance staggered back, clutching his hand to his stomach, his eyes wide with pain and surprise. Germone was still smiling, the knife now dripping his blood onto the floor.

Reynolds, who was engaged in a conversation with an officer nearby, say Vance fall and immediately went over to his side. He was a foot away when he saw Vance staring at Germone wide-eyed and mouth agape and Germone smiling back, a knife in his hands. Ben put the two and two together faster then his eyes moved. He raised his gun and pointed it at Germone. "Don't move."

The officer who was talking to him before saw this and went over, his own gun trained at Germone. Ben bent down to Vance, whose hands were dripping of blood.

"Vance. Vance..."

He closed his eyes and gritted his teeth in pain. "Hmm."

"C'mon." He turned around and shouted, "Officer down!" Ben put an arm around his back. He then noticed Vance wince and looked at his arm. "Your shot!"

Vance managed a small laugh and groaning at the pain that went through his body. "Yea. Good eye, Einstein."

Ben frowned as he saw Vance's leg. The boy was loosing blood, a lot of blood. He pulled Vance up gently and Vance leaned on him for support. When Ben looked back, Germone was handcuffed, the knife in the hands of a police officer and was being led away. He barely noticed Vance trying to speak to him. "What was that?" He leaned in to hear.

Vance's voice was so small, he found it very hard, even though his ear was now almost touching Vance's mouth. "G-Germone played us...all." Cough. "It ... wasn't DeGrow who wanted...Lightman dead. It was...him."

Reynolds stared at Vance in confusion. "Why?..."

"I don't know..." He groaned as they made their way through the door of the apartment. "There's no...bomb."

"Bastard!" Ben muttered. "But why'd he stab you for?"

"Cause I'm his son," he huffed.

Ben didn't say anything about that. He stayed quiet. "Well you're going to be okay." There was no reply. "Vance?" Ben strained his neck to see the boy who was leaning on him. His eyes were closed and sweat caked his face. "Vance!" He didn't even stir. "Shit." Ben picked him up and started running.

-x-

Gillian had just finished telling Cal that Vance knew about ... the secret.

Cal sat, shocked. He'd been trying to keep that secret a secret for 14 years. Not that he wanted to but...still it was a bit shocking. "How...?"

"Evan told him." Gillian sighed. "He kind of announced it actually." She felt so bad at that point, she felt like dropping dead.

"That arrogant bastard."

Greg, who was pacing outside when Gillian had asked to speak to Cal alone, came running back, flinging the door open. "There out!"

The two nearly flung out of the car just in time to see Germone coming out with a smug smile and handcuffed. The trio was more than confused. Next came out a running Ben, who was holding an unconscious Vance. Gillian gasped, Cal froze, and Greg stared, wide-eyed. Before any of the three had a chance to move, Reynolds put Vance in a waiting ambulance and it sped away, sirens wailing louder than a roaring lion. Reynolds turned and saw them. Sighing, he walked towards them, already knowing the questions they were going to ask and not knowing the answers.

"What happened! Is Vance okay?" Cal said, eyes wide in haste.

Reynolds rubbed the back of his neck, not sure whether to tell them. But he thought against it when he realized Cal was Vance's dad, and the fact that he was a lie detector. "He has multiple gunshot wounds to the arm and leg, and a stab wound to his stomach."

"A-a stab wound?" Gillian asked in utter shock. Cal went silent.

"Yea...Germone...uh...stabbed him."

"Germone?" Cal almost shouted. "Why the hell would he stab Vance for!"

"I...I'll explain on the way to the hospital."

-x-

By the time the four of them arrived at the E.R. Reynolds had filled them in on everything that happened. Mostly Cal was silent, cursing a few times, but he was silent. When they rushed into the busy door, a young nurse instantly came running to them.

"Mr. Reynolds?"

"Yes," Ben answered.

"Officer Kendall said you'd be coming. Agent Vance is in the O.R. at the moment. Their doing everything they can to-"

"Is he going to live?" Cal cut in.

The nurse looked hesitant, but put on a forced smile and said, "We're not sure, but we shouldn't think about the worst."

That didn't seem to reassure Cal much. He was about to take all his frustration out on the young nurse, but Reynolds pulled them all to a set of waiting chairs, thanking the nurse. They sat and waited for what seemed like an eternity. Finally, the doors opened and a doctor in scrubs walked out, looking very grim.

"Mr. Reynolds?" He asked.

All four stood and Ben nodded.

The doctor sighed and looked at his feet. "I'm sorry."

Cal's heart dropped to his shoes. No...no no no no no! He could be dead. Not before Cal had a chance to talk to him again! He hesitantly sat down and stared in front with eyes the size of saucers. He hadn't even...

"There was too much blood loss..."

Gillian gasped and tears threatened to fall. Greg and Ben stayed silent and stunned.

"...we did every we could..."

"No you didn't!" Cal roared. He once again rose from the seat and was grabbing the doctor by the collar. "If you did everything you could, he would still be alive!"

The doctor looked away but allowed Cal to take his anger and frustration on him. Reynolds pulled him away though. He had a feeling Cal would hit the poor man. He sat Cal back down and made sure he could control himself. Foster sat down next to him and tried to confront him.

Emotions were running freely in his mind at that point, he didn't know what to feel. He felt numb. Utterly, blankly, numb. This couldn't be happening. He was aware of Gillian's hand on his back but he didn't feel it. Instead, he blocked out everything and everyone in the world and shoved his head into his shaking hands.

Ben and Greg watched as Gillian seemed to confront him and the waiting room soon covered itself in grief.

-x-

_5 Years Later_

Cal Lightman stared down at the tombstone which read. 'Vance Pierce'. It should say Lightman, he thought. He put down the bouquet of flowers onto the foot of it and kneeled down.

"Hey," he said into thin air. It had been five years. Five years since he lost the son who didn't know him. He'd come here every two weeks. He'd come and talk to him. "So...I got some news for you." Cal swallowed. "Gillian and I got married last week." He pursed his lips. "It was a small wedding...wish you were there." He breathed into his hands, for it was winter, and therefore, very cold. "We're thinking of adopting a baby, you know, since she can't..." He felt like somehow Vance was acting as a father to _him _instead of the other way around. But at the moment, he didn't care.

Since that day, Cal had closed himself off. Gillian had spent every single day to get him to open again. The office was was more silent but since their wedding, it was bustling again. He loved her. More than anything in the world. So when the night Gillian came knocking on his door, a bit drunk, and said she divorced Alec and asked if she could crash at his place, he was a bit concerned but overly excited.

"Honey..."

Cal looked up and around. Gillian stood there, a concerned and caring expression on her face. "It's...time to go."

Cal smiled. "Alright. I'll be right over. Just give me a second, yea?"

Gillian smiled. "Alright. Just don't take long." She turned around and walked back to the car.

Cal turned around again. "Well, I gotta go now. I'll see you next week, son."

And with that, Cal stood up and started his walk towards the car.

**THE END! :D**


End file.
